![\"everybody3\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/634\/2016\/04\/everybody3.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nWe\u2019re quickly approaching the midpoint of the year, and it\u2019s been an interesting one. If you look at the box office reports, it\u2019s been a blase year, unless you\u2019re Disney.<\/p>\n
But in terms of quality, it\u2019s not been bad. Usually, I reach the midpoint of the year and wonder if I\u2019m going to be able to have enough to fill a top ten list in six months. This year, I already have at least five films that I know will kill me to leave off the year-end list. So I thought, in the interest of 1. Everybody Wants Some!!<\/strong>\u00a0<\/a>I would not have blamed Richard Linklater at all had he done an easy, down-the-center comedy after the back-to-back triumphs of \u201cBefore Midnight\u201d and \u201cBoyhood.\u201d And at first blush, that\u2019s what \u201cEverybody Wants Some!!\u201d looked to be. Marketed as \u201cthe spiritual sequel to \u2018Dazed and Confused,'\u201d on the surface it\u2019s just another period piece following a bunch of students during a pivotal time in their lives (in this case, college baseball players on the last weekend before class starts in the early 1980s). And there\u2019s a lot of hanging out, partying and screwing around in Linklater\u2019s film. But the film is less \u201cDazed and Confused\u201d than an extension of the final scenes of \u201cBoyhood,\u201d an examination of male bonding and tribalism that captures a time when men are figuring out who they are, what they like and pushing the limits of their new adult freedom. \u201cEverybody Wants Some!!\u201d is a riotous, very funny party movie, but it\u2019s not purely a nostalgia piece; it\u2019s a story of youth told by a man who\u2019s looking back, accepting who he was and appreciating the moment. It\u2019s another thoughtful, smart and engaging work from my favorite working director.<\/p>\n 2. Green Room: \u00a0<\/strong>If you want to know why Anton Yelchin\u2019s death saddened so many film lovers this past weekend, look no further than \u201cGreen Room.\u201d Yelchin is the poetic, soulful center of Jeremy Salunier\u2019s vicious, blood-soaked thriller. The lead singer of a punk band that winds up besieged by white supremacists, Yelchin\u2019s character sings about anarchy and talks about authenticity, only to be revealed as just a kid when all hell breaks loose. Following up the fantastic \u201cBlue Ruin,\u201d Saulnier once again tackles our culture\u2019s obsession with violence and our reaction when faced with its reality. The Ain\u2019t Rights are a bunch of scared kids trying to stay alive, but Saulnier also wisely shows their captors (led by a chillingly calm Patrick Stewart) to be not one-diomensional monsters, but rational, smart men. The film is laced with almost unbearable tension that erupts into moments of brutal violence that are disturbing without being gratuitous. Saulnier\u2019s showing himself to be that rare talent: a director who can keep us in the palm of his hands in the moment without sacrificing a film\u2019s soul.<\/p>\n 3. The Nice Guys:\u00a0<\/a><\/strong>For nearly 30 years, Shane Black has been the king of dark buddy comedies. He may have outdone himself with this blisteringly funny, pitch-black mystery. Ryan Gosling reveals a gift for physical comedy that I never knew about as a washed up, alcoholic detective in 1970s Los Angeles. He\u2019s paired up with Russell Crowe\u2019s hired muscle for a case that twists through Hollywood, the automotive industry and the porn scene. Crowe and Gosling have great chemistry, topped only by young Angourie Rice, who steals the show as Gosling\u2019s Nancy Drew-esque teenage daughter. The action\u2019s great fun, the dialogue pops and the comedy\u2019s laced with a bleak streak that keeps things from getting too silly. In the end, it\u2019s a fantastically entertaining buddy comedy about two men trying to maintain some decency in a very bad world \u2014 Black\u2019s specialty.<\/p>\n 4. The Witch:<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>Robert Eggers\u2019 horror film got under my skin in a way few scary movies ever do. Set in 1600s New England and told with almost impenetrable Olde English dialogue, the film would almost seem too gimmicky to work. But Eggers creates an atmosphere that drips with dread, using accusations, superstitions and good ol\u2019 Puritan guilt to ratchet up the tension. Aside from a gruesome reveal early in the film, the first hour is largely empty of any gore or outright scares. But its final half hour explodes into a nightmarish assault, with terrifying images that are forever seared into my mind. This is a story of religion gone wrong, and the results of a focus on sin at the expense of grace. It builds to one of the most rattling, disturbing conclusions I\u2019ve seen in a film. It\u2019s not for everyone, but for those willing to engage it, it\u2019s one of the most visceral looks at evil I\u2019ve seen.<\/p>\n 5. Hail, Caesar!\u00a0<\/a><\/strong>Joel and Ethan Coen, two of Hollywood\u2019s most Old Testament filmmakers, go New Testament\u00a0in their latest film. Sort of. \u201cHail, Caesar!\u201d is a Hollywood caper, the tale of a studio fixer in the 1950s (Josh Brolin) trying to keep the talent in line over the course of one bizarre day. The film\u2019s structure is largely an excuse for the Coens to bring in a fantastic supporting cast and jump in and out of scenes that allow them to indulge their love of Old Hollywood, including a bit of frustrated banter between Alden Ehrenreich and Ralph Fiennes that ranks among the brothers\u2019 funniest scenes. But like any Coen film, there\u2019s more going on beneath the gags. Structured as a sort of passion play, the film looks at religion, the Cold War and Hollywood from the Coens\u2019 unique\u00a0perspective. Do Mannix\u2019s struggles mean anything in the grand scheme of things? Is Hollywood America\u2019s religion? As always, there\u2019s no set answer, but it\u2019s great fun searching for it.<\/p>\n 6. Captain America: Civil War:<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>My podcast partner Perry described this as \u201cmore product\u201d from Marvel, and I responded that it\u2019s product I\u2019m happy to consume. But in hindsight, I think that sells Joe and Anthony Russo\u2019s superb sequel to \u201cCaptain America: Civil War\u201d short. Yes, Marvel is cranking out the hits. But just two months after Batman and Superman smashed an entire city because they were manipulated by a billionaire, \u201cCivil War\u201d gave us a conflict that was actually about<\/em> something. Tony Stark and Steve Rogers don\u2019t throw down because they\u2019re angry bros; the issue springs from personal beliefs we\u2019ve been able to watch develop over several previous films, and the final fight hurts on an emotional level because of the investment we\u2019ve developed since 2008. This was the gripping payoff to Marvel\u2019s long-form storytelling, and it works like gangbusters. Unlike \u201cAge of Ultron,\u201d \u201cCivil War\u201d is busy but never feels overstuffed because its focus is squarely on the Captain America\/Bucky relationship that\u2019s driven that particular franchise. Every Avenger has their own arc, but every one feeds into the story\u2019s larger themes of responsibility. And the film\u2019s halfway point rumble at a German airport between a dozen superheroes is one of the funnest and more purely geeky cinematic moments in the history of comic book movies.<\/p>\n 7. 10 Cloverfield Lane:<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>This film\u2019s marketing was the best and worst thing to happen to it. Without producer J.J. Abrams attaching the \u201cCloverfield\u201d branding, it\u2019s possible Dan Trachtenberg\u2019s debut would have been overlooked by audiences. But the \u201cCloverfield\u201d name clued audiences in that some otherworldly shenanigans were afoot, and made the film\u2019s final twists a bit too expected. But hey, if your movie\u2019s biggest fault is its title, that\u2019s not a bad thing, is it? Removed from the hype, I\u2019m surprised how much \u201c10 Cloverfield Lane\u201d has stuck with me. It\u2019s a taut, tense little thriller, delivered with great skill by Trachtenberg, who never lets his heroine make dumb decisions and keeps finding intriguing ways to heighten the claustrophobia and turn the screws. Mary Elizabeth Winstead is a fantastic heroine, John Goodman makes an intimidating foil and John Gallagher Jr. is the sympathetic comic relief. A great little thriller.<\/p>\n 8. Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping:<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>In my review, I predicted that the Lonely Island\u2019s latest film likely would have an easier time at the box office than \u201cMacGruber\u201d or \u201cHot Rod.\u201d Oops. But I think time will be kind to the saga of Conner4Real (Andy Samberg). Where \u201cSpinal Tap\u201d was goofing on the absurdities of rock stardom, \u201cPopstar\u2019s\u201d aim is at the documentaries that lionize pop stars and the artists\u2019 hubris (also a target of \u201cSpinal Tap\u201d). Everything about it works so well, from Samberg\u2019s lovable idiocy to the catchy-yet-surreal songs that fill the soundtrack. It has a heart that many films that are so gleefully stupid lack, and its jabs at TMZ are classic. Audiences may have initially ignored it, but I have a hunch this movie will never stop never stopping.<\/p>\ngetting pageviews<\/del>\u00a0making sure those films top at least\u00a0one<\/em> list, I\u2019d check in on the year so far and what films have impressed me.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n