The Big Short

When four outsiders saw what the big banks, media and government refused to, the global collapse of the economy, they had an idea: The Big Short. Their bold investment leads them into the dark underbelly of modern banking where they must question everyone and everything. Based on the true story and best-selling book by Michael Lewis and directed by Adam Mckay, The Big Short stars Christian Bale, Steve Carell, Ryan Gosling and Brad Pitt.

This movie was very well directed and acted.  I won't even remotely pretend to have any sort of understanding of banking, or mortgages or any of the things that this movie was about.  But that being said - they still managed to keep me hooked to the movie because of the acting and the directing.  Steve Carrell was especially great playing a character that is pretty much the total opposite of what he usually plays.  The movie exposes a lot of the corruption and no sense of morality that exists in the banking world and is sure to be mentioned several times during award nominations.  

I would definitely recommend people checking this movie out.  It was a great watch with awesome acting, direction and pacing of the story.  The only bad part of the movie is that it leaves you hating the corruption that you know exists already even more than you did before you watched the movie.

Anomalisa

Charlie Kaufman's first stop-motion film about a man crippled by the mundanity of his life.

This was one weird ass movie.  I only watched it because it had been nominated for Best Animated Film of the year.  Had no idea what it was about or anything.  The stop-motion animation was definitely cool.  The weird thing was seeing it used for regular life.  Usually this would be for a silly over the top animation movie.  But it was just an old man's interactions with people . . . . . and then there was the sex scene.  So weird.  In a strange way it kept your attention just because of that.

I don't know that I would actually recommend anyone checking this out.  It was a very weird watch.  Interesting but weird.  Again - I only watched it because of its nomination and that it showed up online while I had some down time to watch.  

Alvin & The Chipmunks: The Road Chip

Through a series of misunderstandings, Alvin, Simon and Theodore come to believe that Dave is going to propose to his new girlfriend in Miami…and dump them. They have three days to get to him and stop the proposal, saving themselves not only from losing Dave but possibly from gaining a terrible stepbrother.

This was pretty much exactly what you would expect.  More of the same from the first three movies.  It's silly.  They sing hit songs.  Kids like it.  Wash, rinse, repeat.  The nieces liked it and I enjoyed watching them enjoy it.  

I'd recommend this movie to families.  It's pretty simple fun for the kids that doesn't take up too much of your time.

Trumbo

The successful career of 1940s screenwriter Dalton Trumbo (Bryan Cranston) comes to a crushing end when he and other Hollywood figures are blacklisted for their political beliefs. Trumbo (directed by Jay Roach) tells the story of his fight against the U.S. government and studio bosses in a war over words and freedom, which entangled everyone in Hollywood from Hedda Hopper (Helen Mirren) and John Wayne to Kirk Douglas and Otto Preminger.

This was a great autobiographical movie.  It did a great job of taking you back to that time period and establishing what the mentalities were like back then.  Bryan Cranston continued doing an amazing job at anything he decides to do.  The man is golden.  His performance in this is guaranteed to get him several year end nominations.  

I would recommend people checking this out.  It was a very good watch with great acting across the board.

Brooklyn

Brooklyn tells the profoundly moving story of Eilis Lacey (Saoirse Ronan), a young Irish immigrant navigating her way through 1950s Brooklyn. Lured by the promise of America, Eilis departs Ireland and the comfort of her mother’s home for the shores of New York City. The initial shackles of homesickness quickly diminish as a fresh romance sweeps Eilis into the intoxicating charm of love. But soon, her new vivacity is disrupted by her past, and Eilis must choose between two countries and the lives that exist within.

You can tell why this movie got such good reviews.  Especially the acting of Saoirse Ronan. She did a great job of showing the conflict between the two worlds and how they both pulled at her during very difficult times in her life.  This is not a mainstream great movie, but in its artsy way - it is worthy of the acclaim it has received.

I would recommend the artsy movie fans check this one out.  It was very well done and acted and will likely get several nominations for award season.

By The Sea

By the Sea follows an American writer named Roland (Pitt) and his wife, Vanessa (Jolie Pitt), who arrive in a tranquil and picturesque seaside resort in 1970s France, their marriage in apparent crisis. As they spend time with fellow travelers, including young newlyweds Lea (Laurent) and François (Poupaud), and village locals Michel (Arestrup) and Patrice (Bohringer), the couple begins to come to terms with unresolved issues in their own lives. 

This movie was snoozefest city.  I kept watching thinking that it would get better because of Jolie & Pitt but it did not.  It was basically the same conversations over and over again about their marriage on the fritz.  With no emotional hook, I couldn't have cared less about the characters or their marriage.

I wouldn't recommend anyone wasting time with this.  It's pretty much an extremely melodramatic waste of time.

Daddy's Home

Daddy's Home follows a mild-mannered radio executive (Ferrell) who strives to become the best stepdad to his wife’s two children, but complications ensue when their freewheeling and freeloading real father (Wahlberg) arrives, forcing him to compete for the affection of the kids.

This movie had some decent laughs throughout but was all very formula and forced for the most part.  There is definitely good chemistry between the two leads just like there was in The Other Guys but where that movie was more open with the things that they could do playing off of each other, this movie kind of kept them in too small of a box I think.  There was one scene towards the end of the movie that totally made up for it though.  I was literally crying from laughing at that point.  

I would somewhat recommend people checking this out.  Like I said - there are some laughs but not nearly as many as you would expect.  It was a decent watch though.

Spotlight

Starring Michael Keaton, Mark Ruffalo, Rachel McAdams, Liev Schreiber, Brian d’Arcy James and Stanley Tucci, Spotlight tells the riveting true story of the Pulitzer Prize-winning Boston Globe investigation that would rock the city and cause a crisis in one of the world’s oldest and most trusted institutions. When the newspaper’s tenacious “Spotlight” team of reporters delves into allegations of abuse in the Catholic Church, their year-long investigation uncovers a decades-long cover-up at the highest levels of Boston's religious, legal, and government establishment, touching off a wave of revelations around the world. Directed by Tom McCarthy, Spotlight is a tense investigative dramatic-thriller, tracing the steps to one of the biggest cover-ups in modern times.

This was an excellent movie about reporters.  The build throughout the movie as they investigated the story was awesome.  The subject matter and findings of their investigations were mind blowing and brought you even more in to the movie and the workings of the reporter team.  They did a great job of showing a lot of different mentalities and approaches to it all.  

I would absolutely recommend that people check this movie out.  It was really great watch.

Carol

In an adaptation of Patricia Highsmith’s seminal novel "The Price of Salt," Carol follows two women from very different backgrounds who find themselves in an unexpected love affair in 1950s New York. As conventional norms of the time challenge their undeniable attraction, an honest story emerges to reveal the resilience of the heart in the face of change. A young woman in her 20s, Therese Belivet (Rooney Mara), is a clerk working in a Manhattan department store and dreaming of a more fulfilling life when she meets Carol (Cate Blanchett), an alluring woman trapped in a loveless, convenient marriage. As an immediate connection sparks between them, the innocence of their first encounter dims and their connection deepens. While Carol breaks free from the confines of marriage, her husband (Kyle Chandler) begins to question her competence as a mother as her involvement with Therese and close relationship with her best friend Abby (Sarah Paulson) come to light.

Every year there is always a movie with massive critical acclaim that I see and know that its a well done movie and what not but am more or less kind of bored by it.  This was that movie for me this year.  I know it was well done.  I know that it had some great acting.  And the lesbian love affair was honestly done so well that you really felt that they were madly in love and not just forcing it.  The capturing of the time period and how things were viewed was the strongest part of the movie.  But with all that being said - the movie ultimately was just kind of there for me.

Anyone who wants to see the movies that end up being nominated for awards should definitely see this because I have no doubt that it will be.  It was a very good "artsy" movie but I was not too hooked by it.

Room

Kidnapped at the age of 17, a young woman (Brie Larson) has been raising her five-year-old son Jack (Jake Tremblay) in the garden shed where they’re kept by their kidnapper. For his entire life, that room is the only world Jack has known, so when his mother finally plans their escape, Jack is thrust into a world he’s never experienced while his mother has to deal with other repercussions of her decision.

This was an awesome movie.  This was a completely different and expanded look at people being held in captivity.  Usually it's all about the kidnapping, the fear of being held captive and the searching for the people.  This was about the mother accepting her life in captivity and taking care of her son and the five year old son not knowing any better.  The whole first half of the movie is them inside a room the size of a shed.  The second half of the movie is them dealing with the outside once they are freed.  Again, usually any kidnapping/captivity story ends with the escape or rescue.  You never see the crazy levels of psychologically adjusting to it all.  

I definitely recommend people checking out this movie.  It was very well done and different and is one of the better movies to come out this year.

The Hateful Eight

In The Hateful Eight, set six or eight or twelve years after the Civil War, a stagecoach hurtles through the wintry Wyoming landscape. The passengers, bounty hunter John Ruth (Russell) and his fugitive Daisy Domergue (Leigh), race towards the town of Red Rock where Ruth, known in these parts as "The Hangman," will bring Domergue to justice. Along the road, they encounter two strangers: Major Marquis Warren (Jackson), a black former union soldier turned infamous bounty hunter, and Chris Mannix (Goggins), a southern renegade who claims to be the town’s new Sheriff. Losing their lead on the blizzard, Ruth, Domergue, Warren and Mannix seek refuge at Minnie's Haberdashery, a stagecoach stopover on a mountain pass. When they arrive at Minnie's, they are greeted not by the proprietor but by four unfamiliar faces. Bob (Bichir), who's taking care of Minnie's while she’s visiting her mother, is holed up with Oswaldo Mobray (Roth), the hangman of Red Rock, cow-puncher Joe Gage (Madsen), and Confederate General Sanford Smithers (Dern). As the storm overtakes the mountainside stopover, our eight travelers come to learn they may not make it to Red Rock after all . . . 


I've always been a huge fan of Tarantino.  Pulp Fiction and Reservoir Dogs are easily two of my favorite movies of all time.  But there are good and bad parts to Tarantino Films.  Both were totally on display in this movie.  The good - crazy violence, time jumping storytelling and banter between characters in intense situations.  This was off the charts awesome once everyone was in the cabin.  The bad - banter between characters in non-intense situations.  This was basically the first 45 minutes or so of the movie.  It was way too much character development through conversation and I just wanted the movie to get to the good stuff.  

I would definitely recommend people checking this out.  It was a very enjoyable watch but it dragged a lot for the first third of the movie and definitely could have been shorter.

The Danish Girl

Inspired by the true story of Danish painter Einar Wegener and his wife, this tender portrait of a marriage asks: What do you do when someone you love wants to change? It starts with a question, a simple favor asked of a husband by his wife on an afternoon chilled by the Baltic wind while both are painting in their studio. Her portrait model has canceled, and would he mind slipping into a pair of women's shoes and stockings for a few moments so she can finish the painting on time. Of course, he answers. Anything at all. With that, one of the most passionate and unusual love stories of the twentieth century begins.

Pretty sure Eddie Redmayne will win the Oscar for Best Actor for this movie.  I don't understand the need for transgender stuff to be rammed down everyone's throats.  Don't get me wrong.  I'm all for everyone being able to choose their lives and what not.  I'm just not a fan of it being all out there in the media and what not.  Live your life - not the headlines.  Regardless, this movie was a great portrayal of how someone struggled with feeling this way and how to go about living it out.

This was a very well acted movie and will surely receive a lot of award recognition in the next couple of months.  I'd recommend anyone interested in artsy award nominated fare like this checking it out.  It's a pretty good watch.

The Revenant

Inspired by true events, The Revenant is an immersive and visceral cinematic experience capturing one man’s epic adventure of survival and the extraordinary power of the human spirit. In an expedition of the uncharted American wilderness, legendary explorer Hugh Glass (Leonardo DiCaprio) is brutally attacked by a bear and left for dead by members of his own hunting team. In a quest to survive, Glass endures unimaginable grief as well as the betrayal of his confidant John Fitzgerald (Tom Hardy). Guided by sheer will and the love of his family, Glass must navigate a vicious winter in a relentless pursuit to live and find redemption. The Revenant is directed and co-written by renowned filmmaker Alejandro G. Iñárritu.

Damn!  This movie was amazing.  The way it went back and forth between super quiet and calm to total and violent chaos kept you from ever getting too comfortable.  The bear attack scene might be one of the craziest things I've ever seen on film.  And the filming style makes you feel like you are right there.  Leonardo DiCaprio was awesome as always.  This might be his best performance honestly.  And Tom Hardy continues to become the man.

I absolutely recommend that everyone check this out.  It's an amazing movie and definitely one of the best ones of the year.

Concussion

The film is based on the David vs. Goliath journey of Dr. Bennet Omalu, the forensic neuropathologist who made the first discovery of football-related brain trauma in a pro player and fought to bring awareness to the public. In his search for the truth behind the devastating malady, Omalu’s quest humanizes the price paid by professional athletes in Impact sports but also by people who challenge the status quo as it exposes the political, cultural and corporate interests that fuel the business of sports.

This was a great autobiographical movie.  Will Smith's performance was top notch.  The movie did a pretty good job of showing how the NFL's current concussion protocol has come about and how they wouldn't listen at first.  For all of the controversy surrounding the movie making the NFL a look bad, I think that a lot of the film's punches were pulled and a lot of stuff was just referred to instead of actually shown.  Still a great watch though.

I would recommend people check this out.  It's not a must see but Will Smith's performance is great and the movie is an enjoyable watch.

Joy

Joy is the wild story of a family across four generations centered on the girl who becomes the woman who founds a business dynasty and becomes a matriarch in her own right. Betrayal, treachery, the loss of innocence and the scars of love, pave the road in this intense emotional and human comedy about becoming a true boss of family and enterprise facing a world of unforgiving commerce. Allies become adversaries and adversaries become allies, both inside and outside the family, as Joy’s inner life and fierce imagination carry her through the storm she faces. Jennifer Lawrence stars, with Robert De Niro, Bradley Cooper, Edgar Ramirez, Isabella Rossellini, Diane Ladd, and Virginia Madsen. Like David O. Russell’s previous films, Joy defies genre to tell a story of family, loyalty, and love.

David Russell did yet another great job with this movie.  He has an uncanny way of portraying the most dysfunctional families but make you totally identify with them in every way.  The movie really is about Joy though and her determination to succeed.  Usually movies like this become very heart string pulling and melodramatic but this movie doesn't end up like that.  You really enjoy watching Joy's rise with nothing but doubters around her.  It was a very feel good movie that was not done in the usual or formula way feel good movies are done.

I would definitely recommend people checking this movie out.  It was very enjoyable watch and further entrenched Jennifer Lawrence as the go to actress of this generation.  

Legend

From Academy Award winner Brian Helgeland (L.A. Confidential, Mystic River) comes the true story of the rise and fall of London’s most notorious gangsters, Reggie and Ron Kray, both portrayed by Tom Hardy in an amazing double performance. Legend is a classic crime thriller taking us into the secret history of the 1960s and the extraordinary events that secured the infamy of the Kray twins.

Tom Hardy has been one of my favorite up and coming actors for the longest time.  This movie only further solidified it.  He played both characters very well and the movie had a certain level of intensity from beginning to end every time that Hardy was on screen as one of the brothers.  There was some pacing issues and the movie did drag a bit at parts but all together, it was a pretty badass movie about gangsters and Tom Hardy did an amazing job.

I would definitely recommend people checking this one out.  It was an enjoyable watch although a little longer than it needed to be.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Star Wars: The Force Awakens will be set 30 years after the events of Return of the Jedi.

Dear JJ Abrams,

You made me instantly fall in love with your new characters.  I cheered out loud when I saw my old friends arrive.  You spared us the nonsensical amount of CGI that the prequels drowned in.  Naysayers will mock that this movie was pretty much a clone of the original Star Wars and in a lot of ways that I'd definitely true.  But I am okay with that.  I actually think that was what was necessary here.  I laughed much more than I expected.  I cried like a little bitch.  I sat on the edge of my seat just like I did with the original trilogy.  You have made the 8 year old boy who has been waiting 32 years for this and the 40 year old man who finally got to see it incredibly happy.  Thank you so very much, sir!

Does it really matter if I recommend this movie or not.  You will all see it regardless and if you don't - shame on you!!!  It was amazing.  Was already a huge JJ Abrams fan but he pretty much has now become a film making God to me.

Sisters

Tina Fey and Amy Poehler reunite for Sisters, a new film from Pitch Perfect director Jason Moore about two disconnected sisters summoned home to clean out their childhood bedroom before their parents sell the family house. Looking to recapture their glory days, they throw one final high-school-style party for their classmates, which turns into the cathartic rager that a bunch of ground-down adults really need.

This movie was funny as hell.  There is no denying the chemistry between Tina Fey and Amy Poehler.  They were meant to be together and they played perfectly off of each other.  You found yourself both emotionally attached to their stories and laughing your ass off at their misadventures at the same time.  

I would definitely recommend people checking this out.  Huge laughs and great chemistry between the two leads.

Point Break

In the fast-paced, high-adrenaline Point Break, a young FBI agent, Johnny Utah (Luke Bracey), infiltrates a cunning team of thrill-seeking elite athletes – led by the charismatic Bodhi (Édgar Ramírez). The athletes are suspected of carrying out a spate of crimes in extremely unusual ways. Deep undercover, and with his life in imminent danger, Utah strives to prove they are the architects of this string of inconceivable crimes. The film is replete with the most daring athleticism ever seen in a motion picture. These action adventure feats are performed by elite athletes representing the world’s best in class in big-wave surfing, wingsuit flying, sheer-face snowboarding, free rock climbing, and high-speed motorcycling.

Why?  Just why?  Why redo a classic movie.  I'm not saying Point Break was an all time great movie but it was definitely one of my all time favorites even though it was extremely cheesy at times and massively over acted.  Not only did this one insult me by being made but they tweaked it to be about extreme sports criminals instead of surfers.  That was the one part they should have changed.  Even worse, some of the lamest scenes and lines from the original were kept the same.  How do you keep those but alter the rest?  Come on!!!

I wouldn't recommend anyone bothering with this.  There are much better options out there and this is not worth your time or money.

In The Heart Of The Sea

In the Heart of the Sea stars Chris Hemsworth as the vessel's veteran first mate Owen Chase; Benjamin Walker as its inexperienced Captain, George Pollard; Cillian Murphy as second mate Matthew Joy; and Ben Whishaw as novelist Herman Melville, whose inquiries into the event 30 years later helped bring the story to light. In the winter of 1820, the New England whaling ship Essex was assaulted by something no one could believe: a whale of mammoth size and will, and an almost human sense of vengeance. The real-life maritime disaster would inspire Melville's Moby-Dick. But that told only half the story. In the Heart of the Sea reveals the encounter's harrowing aftermath, as the ship's surviving crew is pushed to their limits and forced to do the unthinkable to stay alive. Braving storms, starvation, panic and despair, the men will call into question their deepest beliefs, from the value of their lives to the morality of their trade, as their captain searches for direction on the open sea and his first mate still seeks to bring the great whale down. 

This movie was a decent watch.  The build up to them actually getting on the boat dragged a bit but they did a decent job with character development.  The actual stuff with the whaling and the fighting against the giant whale were great.  And they did a good job of showing the desperation after as the crew of the boat suffered at sea.

I would somewhat recommend people checking this out.  It's a decent watch, especially when they are at sea.  It's not a must see but it's not bad by any means.

The 33

In 2010, the eyes of the world turned to Chile, where 33 miners had been buried alive by the catastrophic explosion and collapse of a 100-year-old gold and copper mine. Over the next 69 days, an international team worked night and day in a desperate attempt to rescue the trapped men as their families and friends, as well as millions of people globally, waited and watched anxiously for any sign of hope. But 200 stories beneath the surface, in the suffocating heat and with tensions rising, provisions—and time—were quickly running out. A story of resilience, personal transformation and triumph of the human spirit, the film takes us to the Earth’s darkest depths, revealing the psyches of the men trapped in the mine, and depicting the courage of both the miners and their families who refused to give up. Based on the gripping true story of survival—and filmed with the cooperation of the miners, their families and their rescuers—“The 33” reveals the never-before-seen actual events that unfolded, above and below ground, which became nothing less than a worldwide phenomenon.

This was a really well made movie.  I was very surprised at how well made it was.  I expected a made for TV movie but it was much better quality than that.  The character development was great.  You really get attached to the trapped miners and their eternally hopeful families.  The only knock I'll make against the movie - and this sounds horrible because it was about the trapped miners - but it was a little too long.  It could have easily been 20-30 minutes shorter and the movie as a whole would have been great.

I would recommend this movie.  It is a pretty decent watch and much better done than I expected.  A little too long but definitely still a decent watch.

Creed

Adonis Johnson (Jordan) never knew his famous father, world heavyweight champion Apollo Creed, who died before he was born.  Still, there’s no denying that boxing is in his blood, so Adonis heads to Philadelphia, the site of Apollo Creed’s legendary match with a tough upstart named Rocky Balboa.  Once in the City of Brotherly Love, Adonis tracks Rocky (Stallone) down and asks him to be his trainer.  Despite his insistence that he is out of the fight game for good, Rocky sees in Adonis the strength and determination he had known in Apollo—the fierce rival who became his closest friend.  Agreeing to take him on, Rocky trains the young fighter, even as the former champ is battling an opponent more deadly than any he faced in the ring.  With Rocky in his corner, it isn’t long before Adonis gets his own shot at the title…but can he develop not only the drive but also the heart of a true fighter, in time to get into the ring?

This was a pretty good watch.  It was formula in every way and clearly pulled on heart strings left and right, but still worked.  You are definitely invested in the movie.  You are hooked by the characters, including this newer version of Rocky himself.  It's actually a very fluid entry to the Rocky story/franchise and didn't feel forced or silly like I was afraid it would.  You can't help but get caught up in the ending.

I would recommend people checking this out.  I think that some of the reviews I had heard before seeing this were a little over the top and could lead to people being disappointed.  If you go in without those raised expectations you will enjoy the movie.

Victor Frankenstein

James McAvoy and Daniel Radcliffe star in a dynamic and thrilling twist on a legendary tale. Radical scientist Victor Frankenstein (McAvoy) and his equally brilliant protégé Igor Strausman (Radcliffe) share a noble vision of aiding humanity through their groundbreaking research into immortality. But Victor’s experiments go too far, and his obsession has horrifying consequences. Only Igor can bring his friend back from the brink of madness and save him from his monstrous creation.

This was a pretty lame attempt at the telling of the classic Frankenstein story.  Why the hell did these two legit actors sign up for this?  The only reason I kept watching was because of them.  Their acting is the only thing that made this movie remotely tolerable.  And that's being generous.  

I wouldn't recommend anyone bothering with this movie.  It was a very lame offering that was only kind of watchable because of the two leads.