Top 10 films of 2016

So last year I waited til I'd seen a few Oscar contenders in January before doing a top 10, it was mainly to make a more definitive list, as I did struggle making it. But this year I've seen enough great stuff already that I can happily make a good list now rather than wait around. So 2016 was a significantly better film year than 2015 with alot more films resonating with me and despite alot of the blockbusters under-delivering there's been a lot of solid films out overall. So here are my favorite films of year which aside from the top 4 are not necessarily in a definitive order.

Honourable Mentions

Hail Caesar!

The Nice Guys

Zootopia

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice

Captain America: Civil War

10. Sausage Party

Nope, this is no joke, I had a hell of a fun time watching this and the film is way better than it should be. Not only is it really funny, but beneath it's gross out exterior lay a heart and some depth that help make it a  great adult animated comedy. Its ridiculous content maybe be too much for some, but I super enjoyed it.

9. The Shallows

 Probably the best shark movie since Jaws, featuring a strong leading performance from Blake Lively and the best supporting performance of 2016 by a seagull. This is another film that worked alot better than it should have and I had a blast watching it. A shark/survival film done exceedingly well.

8. Hell or Highwater

Following the recurring theme of films exceeding expectations(though on a smaller scale), Hell or High Water was a film that I already knew was supposed to be great before seeing it, but I didn't think I'd be that big on it, as it seemed like the kind of film that doesn't have much appeal to me, but I know I'd still appreciate. However my presumptions were wrong and I ended up really liking it alot.  From it's superb opening shot, it just keeps you hooked from start to finish and It's just a great movie with great characters (even the side characters are really interesting), that's really well shot, acted and written. 

7. Swiss Army Man

 Now here's a film I knew pretty much nothing about before watching, except that was supposed to be good and that Paul Dano and Daniel Radcliffe were in it. I certainly didn't expect to see one of the most unique films to come out this year, so it was a very pleasant surprise. It's a weird and wonderful comedy with great performance from it's two stars and with moments that are funny, disturbing and gross all at once. I can't help but love it's bizarre nature and it's got a good heart too, a great film all in all.


6. The Witch

 The best horror film of the year, one devoid of jump scares, but full of pure tension and includes brilliant ending. It's a simple but very effective movie with strong performances, great atmosphere, great cinematography and a unique setting that sets it apart from all modern horror. A great horror that had a lasting impression on me.


5. The Hunt For The Wilderpeople

Taika Waititi's latest film is an absolute joy to watch. It's a lovely and incredibly likable film full of heart and good humour. Waititi's nails it yet again providing probably the most pleasurable watch on this list. It's simply wonderful and I can't wait to see how Waititi handles Thor: Ragnorok.

4. Kubo and the Two Strings

Laika's best film so far featuring some of the most beautiful stop motion I've ever seen. Kubo is an incredible film with a story thats ripe with emotion, excitement and a heartfelt message. Combined with some top notch vocie acting and stunning visuals,. Kubo is simply fantastic.

3. Arrival

Arrival is an incredible piece of Sci-fi that is thought provoking and intelligent. It's so utterly engrossing and intriguing and features quite a few surprises. The performances are strong, the sound is superb, It's also emotional, leaves a lasting a effect and has themes that are very relevant for today. Denis Villeneuve really shows his talent as a director, as this could have easily been really boring in the wrong hands, but he manages to make it work incredibly well. Simply fantastic.

2. Neon Demon

Love him or hate him, Nicolas Winding Refn is one of the most interesting directors working today and one that's not afraid to take risks. The Neon demon is one of his best films to date(perhaps even his best), a sinister look into the modelling industry that is both fascinating and horrifying. A brilliant piece of work with a stellar central performance from Elle fanning. Incredible to look at, surreal at times and totally engrossing, I loved it.

 

 1. Your Name

 For a good number of months I was certain that The Neon Demon was gonna be my film of the year, then Your Name came along and completely changed that. My 3rd animated film on this list (and 3rd animated style), Your Name is nothing short of brilliant, a beautiful anime that contains super likable characters and is full of great drama, humour and emotion. It's constantly intriguing and utterly enthralling and I just love it. My favourite film of 2016.



So that's my list for the 2016 and I'm very much looking forward to what 2017 brings and there's a lot of intriguing films that are gonna come out. Hopefully I'll be getting more reviews done throughout 2017, so until then. Good Bile.

 

Top 10 Albums of 2016

So we're finally at the end of 2016 and in terms of music it's been another solid year, I admittedly haven't listened to as much as I usually do, but I've managed to check out the things I'm most interested in and in turn have listened to some damn great albums. So here's my top 10 albums of 2016 and as usual expect it to just be made up of metal and prog.

Honourable Mentions

Alcest - Kodama

Serenity - Codex Atlanticus

Opeth - Sorceress

Megadeth - Dystopia

10. Circus Maximus - Havoc

Circus Maximus are a prog band I've never been all that into but I've always liked certain songs here and there, now with this new album Circus Maximus have a evolved their sound somewhat leading to a really good album. Now honestly when I first heard a track off it, I didn't think I was gonna like it much, but I was pleasantly surprised and really enjoyed it and the more times I listen to it, the more I appreciate it. I think it's their best effort to date and show a band slowly trying to shift out of it's generic trends.

9. Sonata Arctica - Ninth Hour

The ninth album from one of my favorite bands and while it's not as great or as memorable as their previous effort (which is probably my favourite Sonata album), it's still a strong effort which shows the bands consistency, as one of the most unique power metals going today, their sound may not have evolved much here but they are still damn good at what they do.

8. Redemption - The Art Of Loss

Some straight up prog metal goodness here, featuring a range of guest guitarists filling in for the medically absent Bernie Versailles. The Art Of Loss is a very solid effort that pretty much sticks to the usual Redemption formula but never gets stale throughout it's 75 minute runtime. Just some damn good Prog metal that always makes my ears happy.

7. Insominium - Winter's Gate

This Latest album from Insomnium consists of just 1 single 40 minute track (though in some versions it is split into parts) and it is pretty darn great, just some awesome straight up melodic folk death metal that keeps you engaged throughout.

6. Death Angel - The Evil Divide

Death Angel deliver another great straight up thrash metal record, one that I think is better than their previous effort, but still not as great as Relentless Revolution. It has that familiar modern death angel sound that we've heard for a good number of years now and I personally love it and it never gets tiresome,as they always find a way to keep it interesting. Great stuff.

5. Dream Theater - The Astonishing

 Clocking in at a might 130 minutes, Dream Theater took a risk with their latest epic concept album and while it has split alot of people, I personally really liked it alot. While it's not something I can listen to fully often, I don't think it drags at all or has one bad track. I also find the lack of super long songs(the longest here being 7.40) a nice change of pace which I think is what helped make the album work so well. This album may be too much Dream Theater for some, but I think its a strong effort and I commend the band for what they managed to achieve.

4. Testament - Brotherhood Of The Snake

 Testament deliver one of their heaviest and arguably their best modern album to date. A straight up thrash metal assault with great riffs, vocals and everything. I was expecting something good but this far exceeded my expectations, everything just works and the return of some of the heavier elements we've seen before are happily welcome back. Just one of the best thrash records of the year.

3. Watchtower - Concepts of Maths: Book One

Okay, so this is technically an EP(and nearly all but 1 of the songs were released in 2015 as singles), but it was too good not to have on this list, Watchtower were one of the early forerunners of the tech metal genre and haven't released an album in almost 30 years, so this EP is a welcome return and absolutely awesome, featuring all the tech metal goodness the band are known for this, the 29 minutes flies by and leaves you wanting more and one can only hope that this is only taster of things to come,as this band are still as great as they've ever been.

2. Vektor - Terminal Redux

 This was very darn close to having the top spot in this list and in many ways it should be.Vektor are probably the best modern thrash band going today, their definitely one of the most creative and unique bands in the genre and every release has been outstanding. and this album is no different a cosmic thrash attack that is truly superb. The bands vocals do still grate on me a little every now and again but that's more down to my hearing rather than a criticism. Either way this is from start to finish a great listen and I highly recommend it to all fans of thrash alike.

1. Epica - Holographic Principle

Since first hearing The Quantum Enigma in 2014, Epic have quickly grew into one of my favourite bands, playing a brand of bombastic symphonic metal that I can't help but love and this album delivers exactly that yet again. While Quantum Enigma still remains my favourite by far, this is still a really great album from the beautiful vocals of Simone Simons to the great riffs and overt symphonics. This album has everything I want to keep my ears happy, I especially love the track Beyond the Matrix which might well also be my favourite song of the year. Just another great effort from a truly great band that are masters of their genre.

So that's 2016 list, I look forward to hearing more great music in 2017 and there are already a dozen of albums coming out that I highly anticipate will deliver that.
I'm hoping to deliver my top 10 film list today aswell, watch out for that one.
See you next post.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Top 10 films of 2015

Finally it's here, my overdue top 10 film list of 2015. I've only done this now, because there was a bunch of 2015 releases out in the cinema in January that I wanted to see before making the list. (although there are still a quite a few others I want to see). Now 2015 was a pretty solid year for films, though there hasn't really been that many standout releases compared to 2014 but it has still been more solid overall.
This years list has been one that I've actually found difficult to sort and it's the first year in a while where I haven't had a definitive film of the year, so the order of these films may not be definitive, but they are still my current ten favourites of 2015.

Honourable Mentions
Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation
The Hateful Eight (in 70mm)
Kung Fury
Sicario

10. SPL II: A Time For Consequences

 A sequel in name only, I absolutely loved this, A chaotic Martial film, filled with great action and melodrama and Tony Jaa!

My Top Ten Albums of 2014

Now I know this blog is primarily for film reviews and I haven't posted much  in a while but I thought I'd post my top ten albums of 2014 here anyway as I am also a keen music listener. For the past two years I have done this in video form but decided that this year I would just stick to writing it out instead.
Now my musical taste lies primarily within the realms of metal particularly when it comes to recent releases as I find a lot of other new music just doesn't work for me despite me trying to broaden my palette. So with that said this list is pretty much dominated by metal releases.
Now this order of this list is not necessarily definitive but they are still my 10 most favourite releases of 2014.

Honourable Mentions
Sabaton - Heroes
Grand Magus - Triumph and power
Gamma Ray - Empire Of The Undead
Nightingale - Retribution
Enchant - The Great Divide
Machinae Supremacy - Phantom Shadow

 10. Machinae Supremacy - Phantom Shadow

Trying to choose an album for number 10 was actually quite difficult, as any of the Honorable mentions could have easily been put here. In the end though I decided to go for Machinae Supremacy's latest release, an album that managed to surprise me by how good it was. An ambitious effort that is a vast improvement over their previous album due to better and more dynamic composition that have shown a band that has evolved their 'SID metal' sound for the better. Very solid effort
Highlight: Versus

9. Opeth - Pale Communion

Opeth continue with their more traditional and melodic prog rock approach devoid of all death metal. I happen to really like the current path they are taking, I really enjoyed Heritage and this album take the same kind of sound and steps it up a bit producing an album that's considerably better than Heritage. With more interesting and intricate compositions Opeth deliver a very strong prog album and I'm more than happy for them to continue down their current route if their songwriting manages to stay just a solid as it is here.
Highlights(s): Moon Above So Below
  

8. Triosphere - The Heart Of the Matter

 Triosphere were one of the first female fronted bands that I actually got into, for years I had been reluctant about listening to any metal band with a female singer (even though I love a few now, as you will see further on in this list). I think what made me like this band at the time though was that Ida Auckland's voice stood out a bit from the rest, it was deeper and more forceful so to speak and really complemented their melodic metal sound. So now 4 years after the last release their 3rd Album 'The Heart Of The Matter comes and what we get is a very solid outing that is perhaps their best so far. 54 minutes of pure melodic metal is from top to bottom is a pleasure to listen to.
Highlight(s): Breathless, Hearts Dominions

7. Eluveitie - Origins

'Origins' represents Eluveitie at their finest. Each song delivering a great burst of Swiss Folk metal. Definitely one of the best and most consistent albums that they've record and their first album where I've thoroughly enjoyed every song.
Highlights: King, Celtos

6. Vanden Plas - Chronicles Of The Immortals - Netherworld

German Prog metallers present a damn fine concept album, that provides a great listen through and through.
Highlight: Vision 6ix - New Vampyre

5. Ancient Bards - A New Dawn Ending

  I literally only started listening to this band two weeks ago and was thoroughly impressed. They play the kind bombastic symphonic metal that I love and while they don't necessarily bring anything unique to the genre, they still do damn good job as showcased by this great album. Full of great vocals, great guitar work and general symphonic metal wonderment.
Highlights: A Greater Purpose, In My Arms

4. Dragonforce - Maximum Overload

Dragonforce are band that have gotten alot of schtick since being thrust into the mainstream with Inhuman Rampage(which is actually their worst album). But I've always been a big fan, they play a very 'in your face' power metal that I really enjoyed. I'm also a big fan of Marc Hudson and felt  that 'The Power Within' was somewhat of a return to form for the band. With their latest release they have managed to top that and record what I believe is their best album since 'Sonic Firestorm'. It's the same signature full frontal power metal sound but with a few small dynamic elements added here and there. Each song is bursting with it's own energy making it complete joy to listen to. It also contains a super fun power metal cover of Ring Of Fire. Great stuff.
Highlights: The Sun is Dead, Extraction Zone

3. Epica - Quantum enigma

 
Symphonic metal at it's darn finest. Epica deliver an absolute superb and Epic album. Every song is just great and full of that wonderful Epica goodness. Simone Simons is on top form and sounds fantastic, filling each great composition with life, helping the album to really standout. A great piece of symphonic metal magic.
Highlights: Sense Without Sanity - The impervious code, The Quantum Enigma - Kingdom Of Heaven part 2.

2. Galneryus - Vetelgyus

  Galneryus are one of my top favorite bands, they play their own brand of power metal that always works for me and with their latest album they once again do not disappoint. Syu's guitar work is as stellar as always and you get a nice mix of straight up power metal songs and a select few that are infused with some other interesting elements making a it constantly enjoyable listen.
Galneryus are a band that still manage to impress me greatly and I cant help but love them.
Highlights: There's No Escape, Enemy To Injustice

1. Sonata Arctica - Pariah's Child

 I was very close to having Galneryus as number 1, but the latest release from Sonata Arctica just about beats it, due to being the one who's songs I've relistened to the most. Sonata are another of my favorite bands and here they show how great and intricate their songwriting can be. Each song has it's own thing going on, whether it be the more straight up power metal workings of the Wolves Die Young or the symphonically epic Larger Than Life, the album contains a range of elements that keep it consistently interesting. the entire thing is just rather wonderful and addictive and while it may not be Sonata's best, it's still pretty darn great.
Highlights: Blood, Larger than Life.

So that's what my favourite albums of 2014 were, I should also have my top 10 films of 2014 done soon. But for now I look forward to seeing what wonderful albums 2015 brings.