2015 is just days from saying “peace out,” and we all know what that means: year-end lists. Instead of simply listing the best or worst movies, TV shows, music and games, the DOPE list 2015 scours every pop culture nook and cranny for moments that fall under the DOPE bracket. Before we begin the rundown, let’s take a moment and explain how the DOPE list operates.
In many cases, people use dope to describe something extremely positive, and that’s cool, however, for the purpose of this list, dope refers to a subject of noteworthiness. Now, in this case, noteworthy shall encompass amazing or terrible, as long as the subject resonates on a profound level. Let’s break it down: The Miss Universe pageant: not so dope. Watching Steve Harvey’s swagger game drop to Poindexter levels as he walk of shamed his way across the stage to announce he crowned the wrong winner: that’s a suitable moment for DOPE list contention.
[tps_header]Movie that is DOPER than it has any right to be: CREED[/tps_header]
Director Ryan Coogler’s Rocky movie, Creed, is 17 levels of dope. Upon the film’s announcement, Creed was the subject of backlash — even the movie’s most optimistic supporters weren’t suggesting that the picture would resonate with both audiences and critics the way that it did. Much like the film’s titular character, there were several major hurdles standing in the way of success: moviegoers have prequel-sequel-reboot-itis, audiences are wary of any title that looks like a blatant cash grab and no one was asking for another installment in the Rocky series. Somehow Coogler managed to seamlessly weave the heart-wrenching tale of a modern day underdog into the Rocky series mythology, producing a film that hits the same emotional beats as Rocky while managing to tell its own gratifying story. While Creed had every incentive to rest on the Rocky franchise’s laurels, Coogler went the extra mile, imbuing his film with a level of heart and soul that rarely trickles into major Hollywood releases.
[tps_header]DOPEST portrayal of a character I probably shouldn’t be rooting for: Rami Malek as Elliot Anderson[/tps_header]
Advertisement
How does someone even begin to describe what Rami Malek brings to the role of Elliot Anderson on Mr. Robot? Visualize how Charlie Brown’s crusty buddy, Pig-Pen, walks around in a cloud of stank and then place that cloud over Malek. Now swap out the cloud of stank with an ethereal haze of dopeness particles. The character emanates dopeness. Is Elliot a hero, a villain, a monster or a cautionary tale? Who knows? What we can say for sure is that he is an inarguably compelling character driven by a magnetic and star-making performance. Whether Elliot is taking down child pornographers, framing drug dealers or liberating the free world of debt, he is as fresh and exhilarating of a character as we’ve seen on television in a long time.
[tps_header]Most inconsistently DOPE: (tie) The Wachowski’s for JUPITER ASCENDING and SENSE 8[/tps_header]
Being dope is tough; you have to take big chances to ascend above the basic ranks. When you swing big, you risk missing big. Jupiter Ascending took a HUGE swing, and make no mistake about it, it whiffed; but it’s hard not to appreciate what the Wachowskis tried to accomplish. The Wachowski’s aim was to create an epic space opera on a scale that rivaled Star Wars. Sadly, what they produced felt more like an unfinished mess. While the film’s effects were technically gorgeous, the movie stands out for its sillier aspects such as Channing Tatum’s part canine bounty hunter, Caine Wise, speaking with the vocal inflections of a dude-bro. Sense 8 comes much closer to realizing the Wachowski’s epic vision, it intermittently cycles between good, bad, silly and great, never really sustaining any one tone. The Wachowski’s Netflix series soars and crashes more often than a college freshman tearing through their RedBull stash during an all-night study session.
Advertisement
[tps_header]So DOPE you may drop off the grid: FALLOUT 4[/tps_header]
Anyone else notice that sometime around November 10, the people closest to them began phasing out of their life? Around that time family members stopped returning calls, friends no longer answered texts and more and more Tinder profiles started to read inactive. Blame Fallout 4. Bethesda’s latest installment in the Fallout franchise is video game nirvana. How do I put this into terms non-gamers can relate to? Think about your most hard-core Breaking Bad binge session, now imagine Netflix also shot laser beams mixed with heroin straight into your eyeballs while you watched. If great games are like pushers that know exactly how to tantalize our brains with constant hits of dopamine, then Fallout 4 is the love child of Pablo Escobar and Tony Montana. Since the game’s launch, studies have shown such a steep decline in productivity that we can expect the government to bring back Nancy Reagan PSAs, this time stating, “Just say no to Fallout 4!”
Advertisement
[tps_header]Too DOPE for our feeble minds to comprehend: Eddie Redmayne as Balem Abrasax in JUPITER ASCENDING [/tps_header]
Most people live their lives going with the flow, following the heard and dancing to another drummer’s beat. Then there are those so far out in front of society, we can’t appreciate their dopeness. Ladies and gentleman, I present to you Eddie Redmayne in Jupiter Ascending. Dude goes through each scene sounding like he spent the previous night as the lead singer in an Adele cover band. My man is hoarse. I’m open to conceding that he kept his voice at such low decibel levels so as people wouldn’t notice him in his scenes. However, I prefer to see his performance from a glass is half full perspective. Maybe Redmayne actually met a human-looking alien named Balem and that’s how the homie spoke so when he read the Jupiter Ascending script and it featured a human-looking alien named Balem, he knew it was up to him to bring truth to the role with Daniel Day-Lewis level method acting force.
[tps_header]Most squandered DOPENESS: TRUE DETECTIVE: Season 2[/tps_header]
True Detective’s first season featured the talents of Matthew McConaughey (dope), Woody Harrelson (unintentionally dope) and Cary Fukunaga (oh so dope), so the show was dope: it’s simple math. On the other hand, True Detective’s second season is a black hole to all things dope, a crushing vortex sucking in anything dope and flattening it into a bland miasma of wackness. During 2015, many series existed in the unholy spectrum of bad to terrible, but none of them began from atop such a high dopeness pedestal as True Detective. Squandering an unequivocally dope aura is an unforgivable act. The fine? Applying Skynet tactics and sending an Austrian-accented killing machine back in time to prevent HBO from birthing True Detective’s second season.
[tps_header]We rescind your DOPE card: Atticus Finch[/tps_header]
In 2015, we were all shocked when one of America’s most iconic father figure’s dark secrets became the topic of public outrage — and no, this has nothing to do with that clown that used to shill pudding pops and lecture Rudy, Theo and Vanessa. I’m talking about Atticus Finch. Harper Lee’s quasi-follow-up to her classic novel, To Kill A Mockingbird, shone a harsh light on the beloved Atticus, revealing him to be a little less J.F.K. and a lot more Paula Deen.
[tps_header]Most allegedly DOPE: TANGERINE[/tps_header]
People love them some Tangerine. People I have great respect for rank the film high on their must-watch lists. As much as I wanted to get behind this micro-budget film with a heart of gold, I couldn’t. I get it, some of my favorite films this year are silly martial arts movies. I don’t expect those movies to affect others the way they affect me. I can see why many critics see Tangerine as a breath of fresh air. I get that there is a raw emotion that pulsates through the film, I see the tender bond that binds together the film’s group of miscreants, but I can’t help but feel that the film is graded on a curve. Tangerine is a testament of what a savvy filmmaker can accomplish with limited resources — it should inspire filmmakers everywhere. That being said, I can’t get behind a movie stuffed with shaky performances and grating dialogue, no matter how many people I respect tell me it’s better than almost every movie released in 2015.
[tps_header]Illicit substances may have been a factor in conceptualizing this DOPE creation: Tame Impala’s The Less I Know The Better video[/tps_header]
We’ve all felt that the person our ex went on to date after us was a Planet of the Apes cast off, so in this sense Trevor the Gorilla is the least bizarre aspect of Tame Impala’s The Less I know The Better video. Where this video earns WTF points is with an off the charts degree of not-giving-a-fuck-ness. The Less I Know The Better is one of those catchy songs that upon your first listen sets up shop in the back of your mind, refusing to leave until you sing the hook about a thousand and two times. With its allusions to cunnilingus, nude-psychedelic oil painting and gorilla leaping through a flaming hoop the video is just as dominant on the visual spectrum. The video drills itself deep into your eye-sockets, implants itself inside your sub-conscious and dances along the border of ego and id.
[tps_header]DOPEST moment in a Whack-Ass show: INTO THE BADLANDS opening fight sequence[/tps_header]
Sunny (Daniel Wu) is legit dope. He rides a motorcycle, carries around a freaking telescope, wears cool dude sunglasses and rocks a red leather trench-coat like nobody’s business. Two minutes into the first episode of Into The Badlands, Sunny comes across a gang of marauders and puts all of his finely tuned badass skills to work. The scene is a hodge-podge of classic genre fare; it’s equal parts Kill Bill, spaghetti western and Kurosawa movie. Sunny gracefully breaks, bends, spins and snaps apart the gang of thugs in a well-choreographed dance of thuds, smacks and crunches. The sequence plays out with the artistry of a hyper-violent ballet. I won’t go into all the reasons that Into the Badlands isn’t a well-executed show, just know that no other element of the series’ production reaches the highs of its stunning fight sequences.
Advertisement