Battle of the Movies

There's always going to be debates over which movies are the best. Whether the decisions come down to arbitrary processes of gut instinct - the truth is that we all love our movie selections for our own unique reasons and that's what makes movies so fantastic. We all get something different out of a movie: whether it's the feels or inspiration or just a massive rush of adrenaline, there's something out there for everyone.

Out of the 16 polls you created, there are 3 that I feel incredibly strong about, mostly because I can legitimately judge them as I've seen both films in the question itself. So lets begin:

Kingsman: The Secret Service vs Spectre

In a battle between spies, this to me is an incredibly difficult choice to make. I genuinely enjoyed both movies for different reasons. The spy film has, for me always been about James Bond. When it came down to it, nothing ever truly compared to the stories involving Bond and his lovely leading ladies. So putting Spectre against Kingsman: The Secret Service would have been a no-brainer, except that the later did something that I wouldn't have expected: It breathed new life into the espionage thriller. It seems as though spy films are either overtly comedic: Spy, Austin Powers, Get Smart, I Spy, Johnny English. Or they suffer from carrying the same basic premise along the lines of an organization that must be taken down by a single operative: Bond series or even Bourne (both of which I adore by the way).

So when I bought my ticket for Kingsman, I was expecting a comedic spy venture. Yet what I got was ultimately so much more, because although it carried a solid amount of humor it wasn't purely farcical. Kingsman brought a great balance of humor combined with an atypical spy story, which for me is why Kingsman: The Secret Service deserves the win.

WINNER: Kingsman: The Secret Service

Inside Out vs Minions

In the battle of the animated films, I honestly had as hard of a time choosing which was better, so I decided to base it on my 3 year old sons fanaticism with one of the choices. My family watched both films once they were released on Blu-Ray as our weekend selection for family movie night. Our first venture was into Pixar's creation, Inside Out, and while it was a beautiful film my son didn't quite follow along with the story. Whereas when we all sat down to watch Minions, Brycen was entranced by his love for the hilarious trio of yellow protagonists.

Minions brings to light the backstory of the lovable characters from Despicable Me. The story itself seemed more relatable to both my son and myself. We both laughed so hard and uncontrollably throughout the entire movie, which truly is why deserves the win.

WINNER: Minions

Star Wars: The Force Awakens vs Avengers: Age of Ultron

The epitome of difficult choices. Two brilliant franchises clash for the superbowl of movie selections. Lets compare them:

Villain: Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Avengers brought to life one of the greatest villainous performances to date with Ultron (James Spader was brilliant) as the ultimate sentient machine. While in Star Wars we were introduced to Kylo Ren: equal parts fear and pure anger (Adam Driver was spectacular). The two truly captured the concept of villainous intent, but ultimately Kylo Ren takes the crown.

Plot: Avengers: Age of Ultron

Avengers looked to feed off of Tony Stark's fears of someone coming along with powers beyond what he can fight, and ultimately through that fear and lack of understanding in regards to alien technology, he created what he feared most. Star Wars follows in a similar vein to it's predecessors while diverging slightly, but it was a safe venture for Disney's new flagship entity, but safe doesn't always win as I feel that Avengers takes the crown here.

Score: Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Now this isn't always an aspect that is taken into account when comparing movies, but for me it is since I am a musician at heart. Music has always been a paramount feature of movies to me. Avengers brought in a new composer for the film in Brian Tyler, who chose to pay homage to John Williams' scores for Superman, Raiders of the Lost Ark and Star Wars. Whereas in Star Wars, there is no homage paid because the legend himself was composed by John Williams, therefore this is a surefire win for Star Wars.

Ultimately Star Wars: The Force Awakens comes out on top for the aforementioned reasons, but also because of the nostalgic feel of seeing the characters that first drew me into science fiction and heroic movies that I now can't get enough of.

WINNER: Star Wars: The Force Awakens