This is a great little post apocalyptic science fiction film wrapped up in a complicated romantic triangle. This is a film concerned with characters and great acting above all else and it’s a pleasure to watch the story unfold and the tension rise. As with other excellent science fiction, this film works on multiple levels, first as a straight-up love story, second as a social critique, and third as an allegory of the biblical Adam & Eve story.

Margot Robbie (The Wolf of Wall Street) stars as a strong, interesting female character who is torn between two men who enter her life. Chiwetel Ejiofor and Chris Pine play the two men, both equally compelling in their performances. The film feels real and although some reviewers criticized the pacing, I thought it worked perfectly. Definitely recommended.

Spectre is a big misstep for Daniel Craig’s James Bond films.  Most of the goodwill that has been built up over the past three films is squandered as the post-Cold War Bond goes from grounded to positively ridiculous. Sam Mendes also directed Skyfall and while that film had its issues, it was monumentally better than Spectre in nearly every way.

There’s zero chemistry between Craig and Bond-girl Léa Seydoux. Zero. And Craig goes from next-generation Bond to jokey, flamboyant Bond except Craig’s ultra serious persona makes none of it work. After a pretty strong opening sequence, things start dragging and as the film continues, the boredom only gets worse. Christoph Waltz is an okay bad guy. I guess he was probably born to be a Bond villain but he’s not doing anything new here and is ultimately forgettable. Beautiful actress Monica Bellucci is totally wasted with less than 10 minutes of useless screen time. Dave Bautista is an interesting henchman at first, but his schtick grows thin and after all the build up, his final line couldn’t be more disappointing.

It was fun to see M and Q given some things to do in the field which is nice for a change and actually, their adventures are some of the best parts of the film. Unfortunately, Moneypenny’s awesome set up in Skyfall is wasted as she is relegated to phone conversations and computer searches for Bond. The biggest sin this film commits though, is that it’s utterly boring. At least 45 minutes could be been cut without losing much of anything. Prepare for a lot of yawning and watch-checking in between the sparse plot developments and action scenes.

The ending gives a shred of hope for a final Craig film (he’s contracted for one more) that could right the ship but as it stands right now, Spectre is down at the bottom (alongside Quantum of Solace) as the worst Craig Bond film.

This is an incredible film. What the hell were critics thinking trashing this? How could audience members walk out of this when it debuted at festivals? Were they seeing a different film? It boggles the mind.

Honestly, I’ll probably have Lost River in my top 10 best films of this year. That’s high praise but it’s totally deserved. This is Ryan Gosling’s directing & writing debut and it’s stunning. The acting is so intense, so unique, each scene has a gripping nature to it as you watch the actors become these strange characters. The cinematography is beautiful with gorgeous use of colors, neon & natural light, heartbreaking shots that capture emotion just in their composition, and some of the best framing I’ve seen this year.

The whole film is thematically structured and deeply symbolic. Maybe that’s why so many critics didn’t get it. There’s intriguing parallels to the horrible state of the U.S. economy, the housing collapse, low income family dynamics, coming of age loss of innocence, the confusing and terrifying nature of true evil, America’s obsession with violence, and much more. The film is bursting with imagery and symbolic interpretation. If you like films by Lynch, Cronenberg, and Refn, you need to check this out. Lost River is an astonishing debut film.

This is a little film that totally flew under my radar. It’s directed by the great character actor Alan Rickman (his second directorial effort) and came out early this year with a very limited release and almost no buzz. Thank goodness I found out about it though because this is truly a beautiful film.

Kate Winslet stars as a woman-gardener working for the king of France in a time when almost no women held any position whatsoever in society. The cinematography is gorgeous (some of the best of the year at times). The production design, period costumes, and art direction are impeccable. I should also mention the wonderful music, filled with excellent string & piano arrangements along with interesting staccato bow strikes. But the real standout is the acting with Winslet and Rickman acting their hearts along with strong performances from both Matthias Schoenaerts and Stanley Tucci as well. There’s a magical quality here and if you like films such as Pride & Prejudice or last year’s Mr. Turner, this is definitely one you shouldn’t miss.

It’s been quite a while since I last saw The Return of the Living Dead, a classic 1980’s comedy / horror film. Written and directed by the late, great Dan O’Bannon (Alien, Lifeforce), this is a wacky take on the zombie genre with quite a few first: Zombies that can’t be killed, zombies that run (very rare in the genre), zombies that have more than just basic motor skills (able to use tools, think strategically), and zombies that talk.

Of course, everything is played for laughs with lots of gross out humor, overacting, and comical horror situations. Some of the creature effects are top notch. In fact, a few of the zombies look a lot like Tobe Hooper’s Lifeforce film from the same year. This is a totally different type of film from the Romero zombie films but it’s meta enough to reference Night of the Living Dead as part of its own plot. This is one of the best non-Romero zombie films ever.

Gillian Flynn had a mega-hit with her best selling novel Gone Girl and the film version, which she wrote the screenplay for, was a huge success as well. Dark Places is based off another of her novels and while it’s a confident, sometimes compelling murder thriller, the pacing and direction fail to capture the magic that David Fincher was able to harness with Gone Girl.

This isn’t a bad film. It is super dark but with a name like “Dark Places”, that’s kind of expected. In some ways, it plays more like a 1990’s legal thriller such as The Pelican Brief with a lot of mystery and slow hints being fed to the audience as the plot unravels. Charlize Theron is great as the lead and Nicolas Hoult is solid as well if under-utilized. The direction isn’t very interesting and the pacing is slow (could have trimmed 20 minutes from this film and it would have been better for it). While I enjoyed this, I’m not sure it’s for everyone. Still, if you like murder mystery / thrillers, this is one to check out from this year.

If you love LEGO, this is a nice little tour of LEGO fandom. The documentary tours the world, showing everything from a simple kid playing with some bricks in his bedroom to massive clubs of adults building gigantic LEGO creations. There are artists show make art only from LEGO bricks and scientists using LEGO bricks to help special needs patients and automate robots.

The documentary is narrated by Jason Bateman who keeps things exciting and makes the whole movie more fun. There are also interviews with LEGO employees that add some insight to what it’s like to work at LEGO (although not anything super in depth). The whole thing kind of plays out like a 90 minute commercial for LEGO but if you’re a fan of the now ubiquitous bricks, you’ll enjoy this.

In the near future, a quirky scientist figures out how to build a sentient android that looks perfectly human. It’s a concept we’ve seen done a bunch of times before but it’s well executed here and Uncanny brings some new twists to the table. I’ll be honest, the acting isn’t great though. The opening 10 minutes has some pretty eye-rolling line deliveries with characters that don’t feel real. The dialogue isn’t great (sometimes downright clunky). But the real winner here is the plot that has enough strong science fiction ideas to justify its existence.

All of that being said, I’m not sure this is actually worth your time. This is a low budget indie film so a lot of weaknesses are to be expected. But looking beyond to the overall concept and what was done with the limited resources, it’s kind of impressive in context. The photography is nice if a little bit drab and uninspired (the endless muted tones kind of get old after a bit). The direction is competent but there’s few stakes or tension to keep things moving and so the pacing feels glacial. It takes an hour before things get really good. The finale is strong but honestly, this year’s Ex Machina (2015) is a better film in every way so I’d recommend checking that out instead.

This takes quite a while to get going. For the first 10+ minutes of an already quick film (87 minutes), all we see is two kids walking across an open field, challenging each other to say childish swear words. It’s not that compelling of a beginning but things get much more interesting once Kevin Bacon is on screen.

Maybe the best way to describe this film is sparse and that’s not a negative comment. Everything from the landscape, to the story, pacing, and even the acting has a focused and streamlined quality to it. The film uses its low budget to its advantage. The child actors are good enough (even sometimes great) but Kevin Bacon is the real star here. It’s a nice little thriller and I wish there were more films like this.

Despite a strong start at the boutique box office, Steve Jobs is bombing a bit in national release. It totally doesn’t deserve to bomb though. This is an excellent film. But I think the general public is suffering from a bit of Steve Jobs fatigue. There was the Ashton Kutcher lead Jobs movie a few years ago (which was much better than you heard). Then there was the Jobs documentary last year and another Steve Jobs documentary this year. Couple that with a ton of press still writing about the legacy of Jobs and a heavy marketing push for this film (which has been a troubled production for a long time) and I think you get a seriously burned out public.

And it’s sad that I think people are avoiding this because of all the Steve Jobs films and documentaries, this is the one to watch. Michael Fassbender is magical in the role. I won’t be surprised if he’s nominated for an Oscar. Aaron Sorkin’s fast-paced dialogue crackles as the characters play off each other with witty remarks and sharp insults. Kate Winslet is practically unrecognizable as Jobs’ confident and who know Seth Rogen could do more than just deliver slurred dialogue and looked stoned? He’s genuinely excellent here. Danny Boyle’s direction is as assured as ever and his visual flourishes elevate every scene. Much of the film comes across as a stage play and that perfectly fits the material. I know the facts are fast and loose here but I couldn’t care less because the tone is right. This is a dissection of the man and the myth, a character study above all else, and I think, a work of art.