14 Awesome 2015 Movies Everyone Thought Would Suck

6. Straight Outta Compton

Why It Should Have Sucked: Everyone wanted this one to be good, but as history dictates, rapper biopics tend to be heavily ego-driven, especially when it's being produced by two of the focal subjects (Dr. Dre and Ice Cube). Why wouldn't they rewrite history to benefit themselves? Plus, the members of seminal rap group N.W.A. are played largely by unknown actors, and director F. Gary Gray (Friday, The Negotiator, Be Cool, Law Abiding Citizen) is hugely hit and miss. Why It Was Awesome: For one, the film strips vanity away and looks at both the highs and lows of the group (even if it loses a point for not including Dre's assault of journalist Dee Barnes), while the youngsters playing the rappers are spot-on, especially Ice Cube's son as himself, and Jason Mitchell as Eazy-E. Paul Giamatti is also terrific support as N.W.A. manager Jerry Heller, while Gray drops the viewer square in the middle of many iconic moments in not just the group's history but American history as a whole, namely the 1992 L.A. Riots. It's hard to imagine a more authoritative look at N.W.A., and it's not merely a tantalising look at the group but easily one of the best musical biopics of the last decade or so.