Listmania: The Disappointments of 2015

Eddie Redmayne in Jupiter Ascending
Every year, there's a lot of great things that happen and are worthy of note. In general, it's what makes the retrospective culture that crops up at the end of the year so enjoyable. To look back and see how the year was inevitably shaped is itself a fascinating experience. However, there's a lot of downsides to this. There's those botched experiments that serve more as an embarrassment - likely to ring through all time. In today's entry of Listmania, it's time to face up to the fact that as great as 2015 was, it may have not always delivered on the goods. The following is 10 times that 2015 didn't quite live up to the hype and mostly made me wonder why one even needed to try at all.


NBC

Congratulations, NBC. You've finally become totally unwatchable. While it looked like there was a chance to bounce back with quality programming in 2014, you pretty much petered out after saying farewell to Parks and Recreation before the year was two months old. There hasn't been much reassurance from you since. Blindspot? Heroes: Reborn? ANOTHER season of The Mysteries of Laura? Get a hold of yourself, NBC. Even CBS knew to cancel Two and a Half Men this year. What did you do? Even the shows that could be good (Superstore) pale in comparison to even your best from last year. Please, NBC. Find something good to put on. You're making yourself look embarrassing.

Bill Murray in A Very Murray Christmas
Bill Murray's Career

Listen, the internet. We need to have an intervention here and agree that Bill Murray is not as great as you think. Sure, his antics in public are charming and he's almost welcomed at anyone's party. There's no denying that he's a great PERSONALITY. But the man has clearly lost his charm as a screen presence outside of small Wes Anderson cameos. Between Rock the Kasbah and the even more atrocious A Very Murray Christmas; his charm dwindled to the point of annoyance. His shtick of playing the miserable rebel is getting old. If collaborating with the director who got him an Oscar nomination (Sofia Coppola) cannot help, then nothing could. So please, the internet. Just consider signing a petition to stop Bill Murray from appearing as a lead actor in anything ever again. It's gone from being funny and is now downright depressing.

Bill Cosby in Leonard Part 6
Do I really need to explain myself with this one? It seemed impossible for Bill Cosby to sink lower than Leonard Part 6 and Jack, but he found a way. 

Dr. Dre
Dr. Dre's "Compton"

What is even the point of Dr. Dre's "Compton" album? Its release would suggest that it was a cynical cash-in tied to the success of Straight Outta Compton. Speaking as it's also the legendary music producer's first solo album in close to two decades only makes the lack of levity even more depressing. Be honest. Even if you liked it, it was a major letdown when you consider that this is the man whose last album, "The Chronic 2001," featured bangers like "The Next Episode" and "Forgot About Dre." Not just that, but those songs still work today. Considering that this is looking to be an autobiographical swan song, it's hard to see any of these songs having any impact in 20 years. Maybe the artists who take up more space on the record than him will, but it's not a Dr. Dre record that feels personal or at all interesting to his brand.

Doug Benson's "Promotional Tool"

If this isn't the worst stand-up album of the decade, then we're in for a rather depressing five years. While the gimmick itself is interesting (an album whose purpose is to promote his other work), the execution is atrocious. While usually a reliable voice in stand-up comedy, Doug Benson's latest record sees him mistaking his reliable Doug Loves Movies formula as an excuse for a live album. It's one thing when you get these episodes for free and weekly, but adding costs and selling it as the annual record release is just embarrassing. The show has clearly started to impact his judgment, and the wit that he brings to the bits are secondary to inside jokes. He was never the greatest comic, but his personality was always infectious. Here, it is infectious - but just in the way that it makes you sick of it after not even 10 minutes.

Scene from It Follows
It Follows

It feels inappropriate to call It Follows a disappointing movie. However, there's a certain reputation that a film needs when it unfathomably goes from being a video on demand release to a box office success. The critics were hot on it and many have since labeled it among the best horror films of recent decades. While it could just be that I'm not a big advocate for horror, the magic wasn't there when I watched it. Beyond the Disasterpiece's haunting score and beautiful cinematography, I didn't find that much to latch onto. Even if there were cool ideas in the film, the payoff never felt cathartic. Even Quentin Tarantino believes that there's problems with the movie. It's not terrible by any stretch - but it's hard to see it as the momentous occasion that its unprecedented success would have you believe.

Will Forte in The Last Man on Earth
The Last Man on Earth

When it began, it seemed like one of the most ambitious new comedies of 2015. With the team that brought you The LEGO Movie and 22 Jump Street came a series that showed how slacker Will Forte would behave if he was the last man alive. Even that premise is ditched quickly in favor of annoying side characters that only help the show evolve into a cliche romantic comedy - but with less characters. For what it's worth, Forte tries to be an interesting character, but his material is increasingly weakened until it dissipates entirely. He's no longer just a slacker creatively killing time. Now he's just plain annoying, and the other last people aren't as great as you'd think.

Scene from Flesh and Bone
Flesh and Bone

This may seem like an obscure choice, and one that seems predictable if you don't believe in the Starz brand (but hey, Outlander just got Golden Globe nominations). However, the miniseries had so much potential based on the pedigree behind it. Following her impressive stint on Breaking Bad, Moira Walley Beckett tackles the world of ballet with real life dancers. The story is the familiar grimness that we've come to expect from dark dramas. Even then, there's no character as compelling as Walter White or Jesse Pinkman here. They're all stock cliches that are all trying to be successful through their sexuality. It's mostly disappointing as an outing for Beckett, as her other Breaking Bad collaborators have done far more interesting things than her (Michelle McLaren does great work on Game of Thrones). Maybe she'll return for Better Call Saul season two. Otherwise, chalk this up to an interesting failed experiment for the alumnus that is also a firm reminder that we're no closer to getting Bunheads back on the air.

Scene from American Ultra
American Ultra

Nobody will mistake American Ultra for high class cinema. However, there's something more disappointing beyond the grating script by Max Landis and the rather ugly cinematography. It's the return of Jessie Eisenberg and Kristen Stewart as a couple. Their previous outing, Adventureland, ranks among the best coming of age films in recent years and featured an endearing chemistry between the two. While their relationship in American Ultra can be considered unorthodox, there's nothing here that is nearly as exciting or authentic in comparison. It's just a dull comedy with action beats that features a lot of rude characters and not enough of a plot really to know what to do with. I do hope that Stewart and Eisenberg get together again. I just hope that they do in a better context that won't just fuel the belief that Stewart is a bad actress.

Mila Kunis in Jupiter Ascending
Jupiter Ascending

I went into this with the hope that it wasn't as bad as everyone said. After all, The Wachowskis were cult status royalty following their careers with The Matrix. However, I have never fully understood why that is beyond their sheer audacity to make compelling cinema within a studio system. You can look as Speed Racer or Cloud Atlas and see some ingenuity on display. In Jupiter Ascending, you simply get the depiction of The Wachowskis that you've always assumed mainstream audiences saw them as. It's a grating experience with too much high concepts, universe-spanning sets, and no sense of pacing (shame about the Michael Giacchino score, though - lovely as it is). As much as I want to believe that they're these geniuses, this film serves as a breaking point that leaves me cold, not even seeing the creative parts as good. It's an awful film worthy of ridicule from an unlikely duo that should really do some other genre for awhile to avoid embarrassing themselves again. Be honest, anyone who thought that Eddie Redmayne's performance here was good deserves punishment. Act accordingly.

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