Saturday
Feb132016
Heroes & Villains
Saturday, February 13, 2016 at 12:30PM 
We're trying to finish our 2015 Awards before the Oscars. Today, the Best heroes and villains of the year. These categories are always easier to draw up when the year's genre films were strong. There the binaries of good and evil can flourish stylishly, whether that's through Halloween ready memorable costuming (Mad Max Fury Road), boo!hiss! voicework (The Avengers: Age of Ultron), erm..."big" performances (Star Wars: The Force Awakens), or clever adorable characterizations (Inside Out).
You can see all 10 nominees here. Return and answer me these questions three
• Which hero would you want to be rescued by?
• Which villain did you most love to hate?
• Which sidekick or henchmen do you fancy?
Reader Comments (16)
I'm guessing Furiosa gets the gold star. She didn't just save the crones and topple the villain, she brought back the seeds.
Though after (finally) seeing Room, it's hard not to see Joy and Jack as movie heroes of the year. ("You saved me. Again.")
San FranCinema: They're "survivors" certainly, but "heroes" implies something more than self preservation. Viewing Ma and Jack as heroes is like viewing Mark Watney as a hero. (For the same reason, I doubt I'd include Joy & Sadness on this ballot (finalists, more likely) and, even though I think I like Inside Out as a movie more than he does (probably my 4th place of the year), am surprised Nat put them on the ballot.)
1) If I were in the middle of the apocalypse I would choose Furiosa. (she's so determined)
But for anything short of all out global disaster I would go with the inimitable Susan Cooper from SPY. She is observant, multi talented, and most capable of getting me out of trouble while entertaining me in a magnificent fashion. Melissa McCarthy is my Hero.
2) I would choose sidekicks Nancy (Miranda Hart) & Rick Ford (Jason Statham). Nancy would help and Rick Ford is comic relief - or vice versa depending on the situation.
You may think me shallow for these first 2 choices, but consider, after the trouble is over you get to go out to dinner with these three. (McCarthy, Statham, Hart = pure fun)
Furiosa is not much fun at dinner, and there's got to be a bit of fun in life or what's it all for?
3) Sorry Nathaniel I disagree with this choice of villains, "Victoria" from "Man from Uncle" instead of Rose Byrne as Rayna Boyanov ?? - I'm hitting the disagree button.
My write in vote is for Rayna - the best villain we all love to hate. Victoria had some nice outfits but didn't say one thing that was memorable - whereas Rayna is so quotable.
A great villain has great lines (see Alan Rickman).
LadyEdith: Yes, Debicki's Victoria probably chould have had better lines. But Rayna from Spy was a great Diva but ultimately kind of pathetic as a Villain. ("Aw, they actually like the hero as a friend" is not really a great villain's ending.) Kylo Ren was, though in different ways, also pathetic as a villain, if we're being honest (He's such a mad dog that he destroys his equipment when he has a tantrum. I hope Rian Johnson just gets rid of him).
Reading these lists (which are great) made me realize that Jason Statham's Agent Ford should have been at least a Finalist for Diva of the Year. The speech in Susan's hotel room ALONE.
Kylo Ren is a fantastic villain. In this day and age, what is more terrifying than an incompetent, emotionally troubled brat of an adult with a distorted grasp on history and a terrifying lack of self-control? And I know Star Wars wasn't going for any analogues of gender/racial politics here, but the fact that it's basically an emo entitled white dude obsessed with restoring what he views as a vanquished inheritance ("that lightsaber - it belongs to ME") up against two people who are politically under-powered in our own world makes it all the better.
LadyEdith -- i don't allow crossover nominees in these four groups so I put Rayna in Diva where I felt she better belonged.
Stella -- i hadn't even thought of it that way but that makes it richer, yes. thanks for this comment.
Denny -- i really should watch this again. I assume it will become a cable staple that you chance upon and end up watching in full every time in 3...2...1...
• I want to be rescued by Poe Dameron, for reasons of Oscar Isaac. And then he could take me for a spin in his X-Wing.
• Villain I love to hate has to be Hugh Glass, leave the bear alone man!
• My sidekick crush is Abby Gerhard, who wouldn't want to hang out with her? And yes, Carol obviously has superpowers, so this counts.
Del Toro not in best villain? What?
I would be rescued by Chris Pratt and we could ride off together in that motorcycle from "Jurassic World"
cal roth: Ooh, good one. I wasn't nearly as wild on Del Toro's work as Nat was, but even I can admit that even Del Toro doing nothing particularly new for him (I was way more impressed (ballot level impressed) with Michael Pena in Ant-Man, frankly) still makes for a better villain than Kylo Ren.
cal roth: For more detail (also not even top 12 impressed with Bettany or Chandler (not bad, but not exactly the cut above that such a thing would imply) and doubt I'd stump for Martin Starr), here's my guess of what my ranked top 12 would be:
1. Nicholas Hoult, Mad Max: Fury Road
2. Sylvester Stallone, Creed
3. Michael Pena, Ant-Man
4. Michael Keaton, Spotlight
5. Mark Rylance, Bridge of Spies
6. Stanley Tucci, Spotlight
7. Liev Schreiber, Spotlight
8. Jeff Daniels, Steve Jobs
9. John Cusack, Chi-Raq
10. James Ransone, Tangerine
11. Jason Statham, Spy
12. Paul Giamatti, Straight Outta Compton (Yes, he had to essay two very similar character sketches. Yes, he needs better offers. But can we still admit that this one is the better of the two?)
That's for supporting actor. Should have been clearer on that second comment.
I'm going to make a distinction between HERO/VILLAIN (the character) and HEROIC/VILLAINOUS PERFORMANCE (the actor).
Favorite Hero: Furiosa (Mad Max)
Favorite Heroic Performance: Jessica Chastain (The Martian)
Favorite Villain: Daisy Domergue (The Hateful Eight)
Favorite Villainous Performance: Tom Hardy (The Revenant)
I saw Sicario again two weeks ago and I can't shake that performance off. You can say he is doing nothing new but he's still scary as hell. Horror haven't felt this real in a long, long time. I was sweating by his final scene with Blunt (what a underrated performance, too. She's SO great)
N/A sidekick for the Spotlight team? You missed a big point of the movie if that's true!
As much as they functioned impeccably as a unit (from the top, Marty Baron, down to the shoe-leather work of Rezendes/Pfeiffer/Carroll) they would have gotten nowhere without their sources: the abuse survivors willing to come forward despite the evident pain, and the tenacious work of advocates like Mitch Garabedian and Richard Sipe (not seen or credited in the film but it was Richard Jenkins voice). No heroic story without the first steps taken by the brave folks who risked embarrassment, ridicule, and the trauma of reliving their pain publicly.
Real life aside, the film would not have been what it was without Stanley Tucci. Garabedian alone was a worthy mention for sidekick. Contrast him with the callow Eric MacLeish (Crudup's character).