This is an Australian film that was just released in here in the U.S. this week. It’s a zombie movie an I’m sure as soon as you read that, you rolled your eyes. I admit, I had the same reservations. And to be honest, there’s a lot of stuff here you’ve seen countless times before. But there’s also quite a few new ideas and some pretty clever plot twists that give just enough momentum to make this one recommended (at least for fans of Zombie films).

There’s some great action sequences, interesting characters, and a great pacing that keeps things interesting and the stakes high. If you like The Walking Dead for instance, you’ll probably enjoy this too. It’s much less bleak than Walking Dead (a wicked undercurrent of humor) but it is much more bloody than the TV show so prepare yourself for zombie dismemberment. Also, the disco-loving scientist was one of the best parts.

I still can’t understand how this film bombed when it was released in 2006. In an ironic way, it kind of proves the point of the movie when it bombed in its U.S. release. Maybe the social commentary and clever jokes went over the heads of the small audiences that went to see it? It certainly wasn’t understood by the studio and wasn’t given the marketing push it needed to become a hit.

Anyone who had seen Mike Judge’s previous film (Office Space) knew how good he was at making it smart comedies packed with laughs and biting truths. Idiocracy is no different. The story involves a man who is put to sleep in a government experiment and awakes 500 years later to find that he is literally the smartest man on Earth because humanity has devolved so much. Every moment of this film is throwing some new interesting idea or wacky joke about where our society is headed on its current trajectory. Love this movie. It’s been a while since I last saw it and it holds up well.

I’ve probably watched the iconic bank robbery scene at least 6 times but up until now, I’ve never actually watched the film. Wow! It’s just as good as I always heard. Maybe even better than I expected it to be. Clint Eastwood is amazing in this. Such an iconic character. Eastwood did all his own stunts and it shows. There’s so much energy in the action, especially in comparison to modern day CG action.

The writing is really strong here as well. There’s tons of suspense, the stakes just keep getting higher, and Dirty Harry takes control over every scene. I love that this film works as both an action movie and a commentary on violence and crime in America. So glad I finally got to see this.

There was no way this was going to be as good as the first Dumb and Dumber movie (which has become a 90’s comedy masterpiece). But you know what? It ain’t bad. There’s some pretty funny moments.

Jeff Bridges seems a little rusty but Jim Carrey settles right back into the role. There’s a lot of fun nods to the first film. All in all, there’s enough funny here to justify its own existence as a sequel.

As with the first, there’s a lot of inappropriate jokes (although not nearly as inappropriate as other PG-13 comedies like Anchorman). I admit, I laughed several times and that was enough to enjoy it for what it was.

I think this one will make my top 10 list of 2014. It’s that good. This is the second time I’ve seen Nightcrawler. The first time I loved it. Thought it was a powerful critique on society and what we’ve become.

That came through even stronger this time. The story follows a psychotic person (brilliantly played by Jake Gyllenhaal) who gets into the business of shooting footage of crashes, murders, and other nighttime mayhem and then selling that to the local TV news stations for broadcast. Things escalate and by the end, it isn’t clear who is worse, the person taking the footage or the people buying and airing it.

LA at night has never looked so good on film. Gyllenhaal owns every seen he’s in. A movie that is both intense and thought-provoking. Very much recommended.

This is the second time I’ve seen this and although I really enjoyed it the first time and thought it was great, it moved up to a whole other level. There’s a lot of depth here that I only cursorily noticed on the first viewing. There also seems to be some kind of parallel with Hamlet as well which made things even more interesting.

This movie is not for everybody. It’s straight drama, lots of talking, lots of character moments showcasing actors, etc. Not a summer blockbuster by any means. But if you have the patience, if you enjoy great acting, if you want to see a really creative script, and if you like unbelievably good camera work, then this film is brilliant. It’s worth watching just to see how good Michael Keaton is as the lead. Amazing work here. Recommended for anyone seeking one of the more creative narrative films to come out of hollywood in years.

What a fun, bizarre, and massively creative animated film. Pom Poko is one of the Studio Ghibli movies I had never seen. It’s done by the same director as Grave of the Fireflies and The Tale of Princess Kagyua (Isao Takahata). It was written by the brilliant Hayao Miyazaki and it shows.

There’s a lot of great humor here and some seriously dark and scary moments. The animation is beautiful. As with most Studio Ghibli films, you just need to “go with it”. That’s one of the things I love most about their films. Everything is just presented as real. The audience is always asked to go along with the creativity and if you do, you are rewarded. Definitely recommended for any fans of Ghibli and hugely creative animated films.

Who knew that a movie about a Jazz teacher and his student would turn out to be my favorite movie of 2014 and THE most epic battle between two people in any movie of 2014 (including all the big summer blockbusters & superhero movies).

This movie worked for me on every level. I love the depth here. I love the intensity. There are so many edge-of-your-seat, tense moments in this film. I love the battle of wills. I love that the ending is ambiguous and leaves it up to us to decide what really happened, how the characters changed (or did they?), and does Andrew retain his humanity?

JK Simmons absolutely deserves the Oscar I am betting he earns in a few weeks at the Academy Awards for this. For me, this was the movie of the year.

This is a curious film. It’s done by the same director as Hardware (1990) and since I thought Hardware was a pretty cool film, I was definitely interested in checking this one out too. It’s been on my list for a while.

The cut I watched is actually called “The Final Cut” because there was some issues with the studio interfering and ruining this film when it was first released. And it was only many years later when the director was able to come back and recut it. So I can’t speak for other versions but this one has some pretty cool moments and flows quite well.

Is a great film? No but there are certainly some awesome ideas here and it has atmosphere for miles. Really likes the lead actress in this. She was great. It’s got a cool Western vibe mixed with horror which is right up my alley. Recommended for horror fans looking for something different than most of the 1990’s horror films.