November 2015

The Final Girls
Stars - Taissa Farmiga, Malin Akerman
Plot - The daughter of a B movie scream queen gets transported to her mom's most famous horror movie where she must survive a killer and come to terms with her mom's death.
Thoughts - This is the sort of movie you might only enjoy if you really love horror movies (as I do). It's clever and fun, but I also think the idea is a lot better than the execution.
Grade - B-

Z for Zachariah
Stars - Margot Robbie, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Chris Pine
Plot - The possible last surviving woman in a post apocalyptic world finds herself in a love triangle, because sure, that would happen.
Thoughts - I actually really liked the storyline,  no matter how ridiculous it was. Too bad the whole thing was just so damn boring.
Grade - C+

Me and Earl and the Dying Girl
Stars - Olivia Cooke, Thomas Mann
Plot - A teenage filmmaker who hates everything is forced by his mom to hang out with a classmate dying of cancer.
Thoughts - I really loved the book this is based on, and while the movie never quite gets as good, it is still a pretty solid, funny, heartfelt movie.
Grade - B

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 2
Stars - Jennifer Lawrence, et al
Plot - Katniss must finally bring down that nasty Capital.
Thoughts - The first thing it has going for it is that it's better than Part 1 although that's not hard. Despite the fact that it starts mid-scene, and is too long (Attn: Hollywood, stop splitting movies into 2 parts. I know you make twice the money, but is it really worth it to make two disjointed movies filled with filler when you could make just one bad ass (albeit long) movie?), Mockingjay is filled with action and heart. Part 2 may noy be the best of the bunch (see Catching Fire), but it is a pretty good ending to the series. 
Grade - B

Spotlight
Stars - Michael Keaton, Mark Ruffalo, Rachel McAdams
Plot - The true story of a group of Boston journalists who investigate and uncover the decades long cover up of priests molesting children in the Catholic Church.
Thoughts - I know it doesn't necessarily sound like the kind of movie you would want to rush out and watch, but it's easily one of the best movies of the year. The cast is incredible, the performances are stellar, and the script is fast paced which helps make this movie intensely watchable. Maybe a little difficult to keep track of all the secondary characters though.
Grade -  A-

Pitch Perfect 2
Stars - Anna Kendrick, Rebel Wilson
Plot - The Bella's are back and trying to win the a capella world championship.
Thoughts - The first film is not necessarily good, but at least compulsively watchable. This is a pretty terrible follow up. Plot wise, it's terrible. Just fast forward to the music, which is fun.
Grade - (a pretty generous) C-

Creed
Stars - Michael B. Jordan, Sylvester Stallone
Plot - The son of Apollo Creed enlists his old frenemy, Rocky Balboa, to train him as a boxer.
Thoughts -  Truth? I've never seen a single Rocky movie. But, alas, the only thing I love more than a boxing movie is Michael B. Jordan, so I was in. And luckily, this is a really well done, really heartfelt, funny, wholly crowd pleasing film. Sylvester Stallone might be an Oscar contender come nomination time. And, finally, Michael B. Jordan's biceps, ya'll.
Grade - B+

Brooklyn
Stars - Saoirse Ronan, Emory Cohen, Domhnall Gleeson
Plot - A young woman in the 1950s moves from Ireland to New York for better  opportunities.
Thoughts - This might be the best movie I see this year and if it's playing at a theater near you, call off work or school and run to the theater right now. I told myself I wouldn't give out an A+ until I saw a movie as good as or better than The Social Network, and while this isn't quite that, this is as near to perfection as you can get. It's funny and sad and romantic and just completely entrancing. I loved this movie so much and if you ever listen to me about anything, go see Brooklyn now.
Grade - A

October 2015

The Martian
Stars - Matt Damon, Jessica Chastain, Sebastian Stan, Kate Mara, Jeff Daniels
Plot - An astronaut left on Mars by his crew who thought he was dead, must learn to survive until they can come save him.
Thoughts - The Martian is a big ole' crowd pleaser of a movie. It's funny, it's smart, it's engaging, it's got a great cast full of great performances. But it is also sort of forgettable, and it has a pretty anti-climactic ending. Still worth seeing though.
Grade - B

Sicario
Stars - Emily Blunt, Benicio Del Toro, Josh Brolin
Plot - A woman is brought in on a top secret mission involving drug smuggling between Mexico and the US.
Thoughts - I'm guessing not many people saw this, which sucks, because we need more smart movies for adults. However, this also could have been a slightly better movie, and perhaps more people would have seen it. Benicio Del Toro kills it in this movie which is pretty solid despite a lackluster ending.
Grade - B

The Walk
Stars - Joseph Gordon-Levitt
Plot - Based on the true story of a French tight rope walker who decides to walk between the twin towers in NYC.
Thoughts - It's a shame this movie is so boring, because the actual tight rope walk scene is so fantastic, it will make you fall in love with the magic of movies all over again.
Grade - C

Unfriended
Plot - A group of friends are terrorized one by one via social media on the anniversary of their friends death.
Thoughts - I actually sort of didn't hate this? Sure, it's gimmicky (filmed entirely on Web cams and via Skype). Sure, it's sort of a cliche scare fest. But the hell if it isn't a fast paced, fun little creative experiment, that maybe doesn't always succeed, but will at least keep you interested.
Grade - C+

Steve Jobs
Stars - Michael Fassbender, Kate Winslet, Seth Rogen, Jeff Daniels
Plot - Steve Jobs goes head to head with various co-workers, employees and friends while building a legacy.
Thoughts - I guess there are people who don't like screen writer Aaron Sorkin's fast paced, non stop style. Those people might not like this super talky, character driven movie. But I love Sorkin, and there haven't been very many movies as good as or better than this all year. Also, I haven't seen DiCaprio in The Revenant yet, but Fassbender is going to be tough to beat for that Oscar.
Grade - A-

Bridge of Spies
Stars - Tom Hanks, Mark Rylance
Plot - A lawyer helps broker a trade of Spies during the Cold War.
Thoughts - I realize how lucky I am to live in a world where Steven Spielberg is still making movies. However, I've always had a fundamental problem with Spielberg movies, and that is how uneven they feel.  Just when you are about to fall asleep from boredom,  he throws in some amazing scene of a plane being shot down, or people trying to climb over the Berlin Wall. Plus, Hanks is probably our most reliable movie star actor, and Mark Rylance steals the whole movie. Feels even longer than its 2 hour and 20 minute run time, but still worth watching.
Grade - B