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.
99 Homes was a movie I was confident I would love. I was wrong. It was good, but not great. It had unavoidable flaws. Even with the most accomplished director, it couldn’t have avoided some of its pitfalls and still fit in a two-hour time frame. Just like an unusually high number of films that I’ve seen this year, I knew very little about this movie going in. My knowledge of the film was reduced to knowing that it starred Andrew Garfield (
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 
I know I am in a significant minority when I review this movie, and I know many will wonder what I’m talking about. Everest just wasn’t a very good movie. I realize that many have never seen a mountain climbing movie or, worse, have only the likes of Vertical Limit to compare it to. But before I get too far into my review of Everest, let me mention a few mountain climbing movies that I would watch a dozen times again before forcing myself to watch Everest. The most notable one to me is a recent one that most people have never heard of. Depending on who you ask, it’s the 2008 (or 2010) German release 
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.