Bridge of Spies. The ultimate cure for insomnia. Okay, okay, it wasn’t that bad. It actually started great. It was also based upon a true story, so it had that going for it. But Lincoln, War Horse, and Munich were all Steven Spielberg-directed movies, and I found all three of those to be incredibly dull. I’m a huge Spielberg fan, but after a quick scan of his filmography, I haven’t liked a movie he directed in a decade (2005’s War of the Worlds). And I want to branch off from the science-fiction/action-adventure genre that really defined him, but he seems to be missing something when it comes to these dramas. Of course, there are exceptions to the rule.
Saving Private Ryan was one of the greatest movies ever made. So, while I appreciate his desire to recapture the glory he achieved in movies like Amistad or films like Schindler’s List, I must wonder why he’s wasting his time on a film like Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Worse, based on how poor that movie was, why was he set to direct a fifth installment of the series? Long story short, this isn’t the same Steven Spielberg of the 1980s and 1990s. There will be fans of the style of films he seems to be mainly concentrating on now (heck, Munich, War Horse, and Lincoln were all nominated for best picture), but all three of these movies (as well as Bridge of Spies) just felt long and tedious to me.
With three months left to go in 2015, we have a new contender for the best movie of the year, and the name of that movie is Sicario. This movie is a fantastic ride that will keep you thoroughly engrossed and guessing throughout. Like many great movies over the last couple of years, the less you know about the movie going in, the more you will like this movie. For me, this has been the case recently with films like 
M. Night Shyamalan (Signs, The Sixth Sense) is no longer the master of terror. He seems to get progressively worse with each film. There are exceptions for some people. For example, I liked The Village more than I did Unbreakable, and while other people panned The Happening, I thought it was okay. However, there is no denying that the man is a fraction of his former self. While he no longer deems it necessary to have a twist in every movie, his last few movies, especially Lady in the Water, The Last Airbender, and After Earth, have been dreadful. With The Visit, a film he both wrote and directed, he tries something new. It fails. Miserably. At least for me, it did. There is an audience for it, as evidenced by its $25 million in box office revenue alone and a 59% “fresh” rating on Rotten Tomatoes. However, those who recall the masterful Shyamalan of 1999-2002 are not the same people who will enjoy this.
Dark humor movies aren’t my thing. They have never been. They never will be. I want my comedies to be funny. I want my dramas to be full of drama. I do like a lot of dramedies, but dark humor movies don’t fall into that category. I also like movies that make me think, keep me entertained, or, preferably, both. Jon Watts’s (The Amazing Spider-Man 3, Clown) Cop Car did neither of these things for me. While I understand there are many critics of Indie films who will enjoy this one, this is a movie to avoid for the everyday moviegoer. This is the top movie for many movie fans, and you’ll ask yourself how you can get those 90 minutes of your life back. For me, the film had promise. It was building towards something good. Unfortunately, it never came close to reaching what I had hoped for, at least for me. It actually didn’t come close.
Joel Edgerton’s (