29 December 2015

JR Late Night Blogs: Movies of the Year 2015

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JR's Movies of the Year 2015
After more than a year of blog hiatus, JR returns with his annual list of the movies that defined the entire year. Movies which earned numerous critical acclaim, high box office success, and social media attention were the ones chosen by JR in this years' list. In order to qualify as a 2015 movie, the films in the list must have a United States release within the time frame 25 December 2014 to 24 December 2015 which disqualifies Quentin Tarantino's The Hateful Eight as it just premiered in the United States on 25 December 2015 and yet to have a worldwide release the following year. Jurassic World caught the attention of JR and the whole world earning the highest box office of the year so far with almost $1.7 billion worth of tickets sold. To Star Wars fans, regardless that film critics is saying the movie will earn more than Jurassic World, by the time this blog was published you are past half way in besting Jurassic World's box office making it still the year's highest grosser. Jurassic World was that movie that really earned my jaw-dropping astonishment from its use of CGI for its dinosaurs and movie location to the unique story formula unique to the Jurassic Park franchise. It really earned its marked as my defining movie of the year. Movie franchises are still rocking the list, with James Bond, The Avengers, Star Wars and The Hunger Games each having an entry. Only one animated film made this year's list for its touching and tear-jerking story. Mad Max, the year's most critically acclaimed, also earned a spot on the list. Unfortunately, 50 Shades of Grey, Furious 7, and Mission Impossible didn't make this year's cut. By the way, before proceeding with the list, JR warns you, SPOILER ALERT! It's a great time to unveil the Movies of the Year list with the T-Rex roaring at the top spot.

Summary of the List:
1    |    2    |    3    |    4    |    5    |    6    |    7    |    8    |    9    |    10
Intro    |    Methodology    |    Honorable Mentions    |    Records    |    Data Sources    |    Photo Credits

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JR's MOVIES OF THE YEAR - 2015 METHODOLOGY:
  1. For a movie to qualify in the list, it must have earned numerous critical acclaim, high box office success, and ample social media attention.
  2. To qualify within the Top 5, it is a must for the movie to have been watched by JR from start to finish. Other movies which have not been watched by JR are still qualified in the list but only in the 6th to 10th places with their rankings solely based on their critical acclaim and social media attention (excluding box office numbers).
  3. The movies must have a United States release between 25 December 2014 to 24 December 2015 and must have been released in Philippine cinemas regardless of the date of its release. (This disqualifies Quentin Tarantino's The Hateful Eight as it will have a United States release of 25 December 2015. Regardless, JR loves Quentin Tarantino films and his new movie may earn a spot in next year's list)
  4. To maximize the number of genres entering the list, a minimum of one film for the following genres were included in the list.
      • Animation
      • Action
      • Drama & Comedy (includes Biography)
      • Fantasy (includes Adventure and Sci-Fi)
      • Horror
  5. In cases of movie franchises (or movie universes, i.e. Marvel and X-Men), only one film series from the franchise will be included in the list. (That's why Marvel can only have either Ant-Man or Avengers in the list not both.)
  6. No movie re-releases in HD or IMAX were included in the list (such being Jurassic Park & Forrest Gump).
  7. All films selected are international films having worldwide releases including the Philippines, no local films were included in the list as JR wants it to be definitive of what it really takes to be a movie of the year for the entire world. (Heneral Luna would have made it though.)
  8. All box office data in the list were as of blog publishing - 28 December 2015. All box office numbers were rounded to the nearest thousands. 

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JR's Movies of the Year - 2015
Rank
Movies of the Year
Movie Genre Month of Release
1 Adventure June 2015
2 Animation June 2015
3 Action November 2015
4 Action May 2015
5 Action May 2015
6 Biography October 2015
7 Sci-Fi December 2015
8 Drama October 2015
9 Adventure November 2015
10 Horror September 2015

Get back to previous JR Late Night Blogs' Movies of the Year lists:

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Jurassic World
#1
JURASSIC WORLD
(2015)
Worldwide Box Office: 
$1,668,985,000
Metacritic Score: 
Internet Movie Database Score: 
59 out of 100
7.1/10
Movie Genre: 
Adventure
Director/s: 
Colin Trevorrow
Distributor: 
Universal
MPAA Rating: 
PG-13
Total Running Time: 
2 hours, 4 minutes
Production Budget: 
$150 million
Cast Overview: 
Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, Jake Johnson, Vincent D' Onofrio, Irrfan Khan, Judy Greer

Jurassic World has been an awesome return for what has been a classic and remarkable movie franchise. The movie easily nabs the top spot for its astounding box office success amounting to more than one and a half billion dollars equally destroying numerous box office records and for its universal critical praise for its editing, musical score, story and acting by its ensemble cast. It was 1993 when a dinosaur-themed theme park was envisioned by John Hammond showcasing the dinosaurs that ruled the earth in the era that spanned before the rise of humans. It was then that the world first witnessed the giraffe-like Brachiosaurus and what was then the epitome of terrifying, the Tyrannosaurus Rex, until disaster struck the entire island resulting in its eventual closure. 20 years have passed and finally life found its way with a fully functional theme park established by Simon Masrani consisting of different dinosaurs with both the Brachiosaurus and Tyrannosaurus Rex plus the massive new dinosaur, the aquatic Mosasaurus, accessible to the general public. Disaster soon ensues as the company that started the theme park experimented on creating a new terrifying attraction, the Indominus Rex. Jurassic World astonished the inner kid in me with its ambitious theme park. It would soon be a challenge for the makers of the film franchise to follow-up the giant that is Jurassic World with movies that would still catch the attention of movie viewers worldwide.