Total creep-fest. 2015 was looking for a legitimate horror. While this movie has completely flown under the radar for the general public, word of mouth has allowed the independent It Follows to become a cult classic quickly. Not only is this the best horror movie of 2015, but it is also the best horror movie in years. Honestly, the feeling I got while watching this movie was what I expected from what’s arguably the most over-hyped horror movie of all time, 1999’s The Blair Witch Project.
When I saw The Blair Witch Project in the theater, I was expecting to be scared in ways that I had been before. I know that a few of the friends I went with were terrified by it. I wondered if we had just watched the same movie. The Blair Witch Project is a different type of horror from A Nightmare on Elm Street. I think that perhaps as a 23-year-old, I hadn’t yet adapted to the idea that what you might imagine could be even more terrifying than what you see. I’ve mentioned on this blog a couple of times that I need to go back and watch The Blair Witch Project to see if I view it the same way that I did 16 years ago. Given its 87% “fresh” score on Rotten Tomatoes, I’m willing to admit that I am probably missing something when I give it a D-. But this is neither here nor there. It Follows is much more like The Blair Witch Project than A Nightmare on Elm Street. The movie’s 96% fresh score on Rotten Tomatoes aligns with my view of the film. It Follows is an instant horror classic.
Hands down, the best romance of 2015 is John Crowley’s (Intermission, Boy A) terrific Brooklyn. This movie features no wining and dining. There are no passionate, hot and heavy, sometimes stir a little in your seat scenes that you might be used to in movies like Titanic, The Notebook, Pretty Woman, Before Sunrise, 
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 
Long before Claire Danes began earning multiple Emmy Awards as the bipolar Carrie Mathison on Showtime’s knock-out series Homeland, she starred in lesser-known independent movies like Brokedown Palace, Igby Goes Down, and 2005’s completely underappreciated Shopgirl. I watched this movie for the first time back in 2008 or 2009 and was blown away by how awesome and authentic it felt. This was long before Homeland. I have since watched every episode of Homeland (including seasons 1 and 2 twice each), so it was cool to re-watch Shopgirl, knowing everything that I know about the character she plays on the television show that earned her fame. Ironically, this was the first movie that Steve Martin (Parenthood, Three Amigos!) wrote. It turns out he’s written dozens of films (including Three Amigos!, Roxanne, LA Story, The Jerk, and Bowfinger), but this was his first non-comedy. The difference was that with Shopgirl, he wrote the novel in addition to the screenplay. And let me say that he did a great job. I had a couple of problems (which I will include below), but for the most part, he killed it. I would not read this review unless you’ve seen this movie. It’s going to be chock-full of spoilers. I would love to hear your thoughts on it if you have had a chance to see it. If you haven’t, you can just stop reading now and check out the movie.
Promises