Purple Rain

★★★★★ - A Review by Cameron Kanachki

"Well, for starters, you have to purify yourself in the waters of Lake Minnetonka." That quote from Prince is from Purple Rain, one of the greatest movies about music ever made. The film has been re-released in theaters after the death of Prince. Prince plays The Kid, the leader of a Minneapolis band called The Revolution. They are one of the headliners at a club called First Avenue. Their biggest rival is The Time, led by Morris (played by Morris Day). The Kid eventually finds a love interest in Apollonia (played by Apollonia Kotero), a young woman waiting to be discovered. The Kid is also battling a volatile home life, with his father (played by Clarence Williams III) being verbally & physically abusive & his mother (played by Olga Karlatos) being emotionally abusive. The Kid is also emotionally distant, refusing to play something that his bandmates, Wendy (played by Wendy Melvoin) & Lisa (played by Lisa Coleman) wrote. Eventually, fueled by Apollonia joining with Morris & his band's internal fighting, The Kid must decide to change his ways & rise past his struggles to reach success.

The film is a musical masterpiece. Prince's performance was spectacular. The direction from Albert Magnoli was great. The screenplay from Magnoli & William Blinn was excellent. And the soundtrack by Prince is one of the greatest soundtracks not just in film history, but in music history. 

It's still extremely shocking for me to believe that Prince is dead, even almost a month after his death. He was definitely one of the greatest musicians ever. And his legacy will live on. This was definitely part of that legacy. This was definitely an amazing film.

Keanu

★★★★★ - A Review by Cameron Kanachki

"We're in the market for a gangster pet." That quote from Keegan Michael-Key is from the new movie Keanu, an absolutely hilarious film. Key plays Clarence, a huge George Michael fan. His cousin & best friend, Rell (played by Jordan Peele), has just been dumped by his girlfriend. However, Rell's hopes are lifted when a cat appears on his porch. He takes the cat in & names it Keanu. Two weeks later, Keanu is kidnapped, & now Clarence & Rell must deal with drug dealers to get him back.

This was extremely hilarious. Key & Peele were hilarious again, proving that they are some of the greatest comedians out there today. The direction from Peter Atencio was brilliant. The screenplay from Jordan Peele & Alex Rubens was hilarious. And the soundtrack (filled with several George Michael songs) is killer. This is definitely one of the funniest movies of the decade.

The Michigan Movie Guy's Top 10 Films of 2015

2015 was one of the greatest years in film. And now it is time to give my top 10 films list of 2015. This list took a lot of time & preparation, hence the fact that I have not posted this list until now. Alright, let's do this!

10. Spotlight

★★★★★ - This is definitely the greatest film about journalism since 1976's All the President's Men. The acting, direction, screenplay, & editing were all excellent. It was a great choice for the Academy Award for Best Picture.

9. Inside Out

★★★★★ - I think that this is the greatest animated film ever made. I know, the Toy Story movies, Monsters, Inc., Finding Nemo, The Incredibles & Up are animated classics. But an animated film has never affected me in a way such as this. Everything was excellent. It definitely deserved the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature.

8. Steve Jobs

★★★★★ - This is definitely one of the best biopics of the decade. Great performances (especially from Michael Fassbender & Kate Winslet), excellent editing, great direction, & one of the best screenplays from Aaron Sorkin.

7. Brooklyn

★★★★★ - This is one of the most well-crafted period pieces of the decade. It has great costumes, cinematography & production design, a great film score, masterful direction, an excellent screenplay, & the best performance of the year from Saoirse Ronan.

6. The Hateful Eight

★★★★★ - This is definitely one of Quentin Tarantino's best. Great performances from the cast (especially from Jennifer Jason Leigh), excellent cinematography, a killer screenply, masterful direction, & one of the best film scores of the decade.

5. The Revenant

★★★★★ - The film was Alejandro G. Iñarrítu's best film yet. Leonardo DiCaprio finally won an Oscar for this, & he 100% deserved it. Tom Hardy was also excellent, showing that he is one of the best actors today. The direction & screenplay were excellent, & the cinematography from Emmanuel Lubezki was definitely the best of the year.

4. Room

★★★★★ - This was one of the most emotional films of the year. Brie Larson's performance was one of the best of the year, & her Oscar win was well-deserved. Jacob Tremblay was also spell-binding in his performance, & it's a shame he wasn't Oscar-nominated. Joan Allen was also excellent, & she was also robbed of an Oscar nomination. The direction from Lenny Abrahamson was excellent, & the screenplay from Emma Donoghue was absolutely masterful.

3. Me & Earl & The Dying Girl

★★★★★ - This was definitely the greatest independent film of the year. Great performances from the cast, excellent direction, brilliant cinematography, & an absolutely amazing & quirky screenplay from Jesse Andrews.

2. Bridge of Spies

★★★★★ - This is definitely one of Steven Spielberg's 5 best films. The direction was definitely top-notch, & the screenplay was excellent. Tom Hanks was wonderful, & Mark Rylance gave the best male performance of 2015. And the score from Thomas Newman was the best of the year. 

1. The Big Short

★★★★★ - This was an absolute masterpiece, & definitely the most important film of the year. Every single member of the cast gave excellent performances. The direction was spectacular. The editing was extremely well-done, & the screenplay was the best of the year. This is definitely the greatest film of the year.