As I mentioned near the end of my review on Divergent, what is Kate Winslet (The Reader, Little Children) doing in a movie franchise like this? Anybody could have played the role of this minor character. There isn’t any depth to her character. The movie isn’t going to win any awards. And Winslet could be spending her time in films that showcase her acting prowess. I understand it from the film’s standpoint. Why not get another big name? Even if it costs 10+ times as much money as getting an unknown actor, it makes sense. The movie covers its costs in the first week or two anyway.
I’ve always come back to the fact that appearing in movies such as Insurgent allows her to sustain her way of life to take on more roles in independent films that can’t afford to pay her as much because they won’t make as much at the box office. And if this is the reason, then I am cool with it. I am willing to give Naomi Watts (The Ring, The Impossible), who also appears in this movie, the same leeway. It does bother me that these talented actresses are merely supporting less-talented actors and actresses in a film that relies on young-adult fantasy and adventure scenes rather than their leads’ performances. Nonetheless, I’m willing to accept this, hoping that Winslet and Watts will continue to deliver Oscar-contending performances in future films.
If I could describe the German-released movie North Face in just a single word, it would be the word horrific. Based on the true story of a competition to climb the most dangerous rock face in the Swiss Alps, the subtitled movie gets better and better with each passing frame. For those moviegoers who aren’t into subtitled movies, I can sympathize. I tend to groan when I know I’m about to embark on one of those, too. Subtitled movies are ones that you need to prepare for, and, unfortunately, when a subtitled movie is bad, it almost becomes twice as dreadful to trudge through. But, at the same time, I have seen some fantastic foreign-language movies, and North Face ranks right up there with them. And, as with any good subtitled movie, when you are truly engaged, you don’t even notice you are reading the words anymore. I don’t know how I came across this movie, other than the fact that I love a good adventure movie (I am one of those people who tend to separate the adventure genre from the action genre).
I wanted to like Terminator Genisys. I did. I know it got slammed by the critics (26% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes), but I am a fan of the franchise. I even watched Terminator Salvation (a movie that Christian Bale should never have wasted his time with) a few days prior in anticipation of this movie. I knew all about the movie’s problems. I knew that fans of the franchise would, at the very least, be disappointed. I knew that many of the die-hards were upset with this movie. I had heard that it was confusing and difficult to follow. I knew that the trailer gave away the movie’s major twist. Yet I was willing to forget all of these things and held out hope that this movie could be more. I mean, this was the Terminator franchise. It couldn’t be worse than 
It’s been 12 years since we last saw the Tyrannosaurus Rex tearing up the supposedly revamped dinosaur park in Jurassic Park III. While much better than the 50% rating it earned on Rotten Tomatoes, the movie signaled the end of the franchise. Gone were Sam Neill, Laura Dern, and Jeff Goldblum. There was talk over the last decade to reinvigorate the series, but nothing ever materialized. Then came the 
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 had a significant knock-on effect before it even hit the screen. And that was that the book was split into two movies. I have been having a big problem with this. It’s a three-series book. Make it a three-series movie. That’s what it would have been if the first movie hadn’t taken off and smashed the box office. I understand why the studios want to break the last book into two movies. I would do it too. But as a fan, a moviegoer, and someone who pays lots of money at the movie theaters, I have a problem paying an extra $12 when I don’t feel I have to. I know I am the exact reason for this issue. I saw the first two movies in the theater. I contributed to that astronomical gross that each of these first two movies reached. And it’s not The Hunger Games franchise that upsets me.