BY CHRIS VOLZKE (’17)

The Good:

Very early in the year we were treated with some awesome movies. Movies like “The Revenant” and “The Hateful 8” technically were released in December of 2015 but were not released on a massive scale till January. Both of those movies were critically and commercially successful and were seen as a start to what could have been an incredible year for movies. A month later “Deadpool” hit theaters and revolutionized the super hero movie genre, becoming the highest grossing R-rated movie of all time. Summer time wasn’t a complete disaster for movie lovers either, with “Captain America: Civil War,” living up to the hype that built up for months before its release and “Finding Dory” providing an adequate sequel to the movie we all loved as kids. Later in the year audiences were treated with some great action movies like “Doctor Strange” and “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them”, as well as an Oscar contending war movie, “Hacksaw Ridge.” 

The Bad:

Maybe the most disappointing film of the year, “Suicide Squad,” was not nearly as good as what was advertised. Fans were sorely disappointed that it did not feature Joker more, and even the extended version that was released still did not have enough to satisfy fans. Comedy fans were a little heartbroken too with “The Boss” which was just boring and unoriginal. We cannot forget horror fans either which were treated to the likes of “Don’t Breathe” and “Incarnate.” Both of these movies left a lot to be desired, with cheap scares and lack of a good story, which has plagued the horror genre for years. Even action movie fans were left with a sort of dry spell in the middle of the summer, with the massively disappointing “Jason Bourne” and “The Legend of Tarzan”. But even all of these disappointing flicks weren’t the worst movies to hit theaters this year.

The Ugly:

This summer, which was full of potentially awesome movies, was one of the biggest disappointments for movies in a while. “Warcraft” is just another film to fall to the curse that seems to be plaguing movie adaptions of video games. “Gods of Egypt” was one of the biggest box office flops of the year, losing millions of dollars at the box office. However, that was to be expected because even the trailers looked awful. “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows” came out this summer and it was absolutely awful. Somehow Michael Bay and Co managed to create a movie even less enjoyable than the first Turtles flick. Early this year we were given “Zoolander 2,” the sequel to the beloved cult classic, and it was awful. One of the worst comedy sequels I have seen since “Dumb and Dumber 2.” “Masterminds” finally made its way into theaters as well and it was also terrible, but to be fair the production company went out of business and was using “Masterminds” as a money grab. And last and most certainly least, “Norm of the North” is quite possibly not only the worst movie of the year, but one of the worst animated films of all time. Sitting at a pathetic 8% on Rotten Tomatoes, I don’t believe anyone, not even the creators liked this movie.