That’s right SpicyPulpers! 7 Years!!! Wow…Wow…Wow!!! It’s a pretty big achievement for us and to think it all started back in 2013 with a review of Iron Man 3!
From there it only grew as we continued to share our love for all things film, television and pop culture, presenting entertainment in all its spicy goodness and to celebrate this milestone we wanted to celebrate seven of our favourite films from the last seven years.
This is a simple round up of some of our favourite films of the last seven years and ones which we reckon make for an awesome session of binge watching.
Check them out below:
The Great Gatsby – 2013
It all began for us in 2013 with Marvel Studios Iron Man 3, and after that we were off and running. An amazing variety of incredible cinema came our way that year and Baz Luhrman’s glittering and lavish adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s magnum opus, The Great Gatsby, certainly caught our eye. A gorgeous film to look at in every single frame and packing flawless performances from the likes of Leonardo DiCaprio, Carey Mulligan, Tobey Maguire and Joel Edgerton, The Great Gatsby is a film that makes your heart beat faster and you can’t be caught up in the glamour and emotion of it’s jazz age story.
Nightcrawler – 2014
We got serious in 2014 with our movie watching and one of the coolest, most original releases of that year was Dan Gillroy’s hard-edged anti-hero tale Nightcrawler. Chronicling the rise to power of Los Angeles stringer Lou Bloom (Jake Gyllenhaal), Nightcrawler was the tale told from the villains perspective as this hungry, jackal of a character does anything to succeed in a modern capitalist society. From beginning to end, Nightcrawler had it’s audience on edge, and this is what we classify as utterly addictive viewing. Told with breathtaking originality and lightening speed, Nightcrawler was a film
The Hateful Eight – 2015
Quentin Tarantino’s eighth film was a very big deal and it certainly wasn’t what we were expecting. This western-mystery-horror-comedy-action-thriller was a complete backhander that took you by surprise at every turn and introduced to a group of the most despicable mercs, bounty killers, outlaws, liars, cheats, double-crossers and villains ever committed to the big screen! This was QT at his most outlandish and The Hateful Eight delivered one hell of a wallop when it came to the body count and blood splatter of the piece. Tarantino was firing on all cylinders with this one and The Hateful Eight certainly ranked up there as one of 2015’s most memorable releases.
Hunt for the Wilderpeople – 2016
Trust it to the good old vibes of Taika Waititi to give us all the feels with the instant cult classic that is Hunt for the Wilderpeople. A classic film bound by ‘kiwi as’ goodness, Hunt for the Wilderpeople is the perfect story of teenage delinquent Ricky Baker (Julian Dennison) and his ‘Uncle’ Hec (Sam Niell), who set off into the bush and embark on a strange, humorous and ultimately enjoyable journey together. Waititi gave this film a whole lot of heart and spirit, and everyone who saw it was sure to crack a smile.
Dunkirk – 2017
2017 was one definitely epic year for cinemas lovers, and it didn’t get much grander than Christopher Nolan’s wartime masterpiece Dunkirk. This gripping thrill ride of a blockbuster had your pulse pounding at every second as Nolan presented the story of the British Armed Forces desperate retreat from the shores of Dunkirk, France in 1940 as the Nazi war machine advanced on them with the single purpose of utterly annihilating more than 300,000 men. From land, air and sea this story was told, and with Nolan’s ambitious narrative, a breathtaking accurate sense of production design and costuming, a cast of Britain’s best, the magnificent cinematography of Hoyte van Hoytema and the pulse pounding score of Hans Zimmer led to one of the most exciting and visceral cinematic experiences of the decade.
First Man – 2018
Damian Chazelle had made a name for himself as a Hollywood whizz kid with amazing works like Whiplash and La La Land had made him a filmmaker to watch and his 2018 historical-space drama First Man was one incredible watch. Documenting the Apollo space program and the journey of astronaut Neill Armstrong (Ryan Gosling) to the lunar surface, First Man was a breathtaking piece of cinema and it certainly took audiences to the edge. Both the intense performance from Gosling and the force of Chazelle’s filmmaking where on full display here and the result was something truly magnificent.
Avengers: Endgame – 2019
2019 was a massive year for film fans, and when it came to blockbusters they certainly didn’t get much bigger than Avengers: Endgame, the culmination of the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s ‘Infinity Saga’, and it made for one of the most awe-inspiring pieces of cinema ever committed to the big screen. Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), Captain America (Chris Evans), Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), The Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) and Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) were all assembled for this one and they were ready to do whatever it took to restore hope and order back to the universe. The story was gripping, the visuals striking, the visual effects amazing and the emotion marvelous in a story that was testament to the power of the blockbuster and for these stories to resonate with audiences the world over, they truly don’t get any better than this.
There you go, seven films for seven years, and while 2020 is still very much up in the air with what awaits due to all the uncertainty that is going on in the world right now, we can still hold to the fact that cinema still reigns and that one day soon cinemas will be opened and we can all take in these bold technicolour masterpieces once more.
In the meantime we hope you all stay safe and well, and thank you once again for all your support for the SpicyPulp experience….here’s to what comes next.
