Léon: The Professional is a masterpiece of work from Luc Besson and is easily my favorite and most emotion-filled film to date. The performances by Jean Reno (who deserved an Oscar nomination), Natalie Portman and Gary Oldman were all fantastic in their own distinctive ways.
The Fifth Element is a mixed bag of a film with some great flare and style but then you add in Chris Tucker and his obnoxious character to balance all that good out. On the plus side, Gary Oldman, as outlandish as his character is, is a lot of fun to watch and Milla Jovovich provides a nice spark.
A solid improvement over Rise, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes has director Matt Reeves taking the franchise to the next level providing some well written and finely directed scenes.
Rise of the Planet of the Apes isn’t perfect but it is a fine way to reboot the series with a new trilogy, especially after the disastrous Tim Burton version. This addition actually gives the apes more character which will be furthered in the sequel.
Life was one of the bigger disappointments for me this year with a respectable cast and interesting, if not familiar, story that clearly took cues from Ridley Scott’s Alien. But while the execution was okay, though I didn’t find anything all that’s suspenseful, the script was a mess and perhaps a good re-write could’ve made a difference.
The Lego® Batman Movie does have some funny moments and great scenes with inside jokes for any Batman fan out there. The downside is the plot is rather thin but the message is one that kids and adults could get something out of while the jokes do run a bit dry and the film could’ve been cut down.
Dredd is an amazing sci-fi action/thriller that seems to finally get the character right. The action is incredible, the visual effect top notch and Karl Urban, given very little to work with, is effective in the title role.
Ex Machina is one of the better surprises of 2015 with a well told story taking a subject seen many times before yet giving it that extra layer and giving us three distinguished characters each fleshed out so well.
Unforgiven is probably one of the best westerns ever made and it’s a movie that transcends audiences so if you’re like me and don’t normally watch those kinds of movies, give this one a shot: it features fine performances, fine direction and a story that is compelling from beginning to end.
3:10 to Yuma is one of the best modern westerns that features precision direction from James Mangold and includes a stellar cast by Russell Crowe, Christian Bale and Peter Fonda not to mention Ben Foster, Alan Tudyk and Logan Lerman in supporting roles.
xXx: Return of Xander Cage, like the first movie, is technically not good but with that had over this entry was a sense it was competently made and was for sure this was a good 8-10 years too late. Having said that, they seem to be set up for a truly fun fourth movie.
It’s really no surprise that Fifty Shades Darker is a bad film but the worst sin of this entry it was awfully dull but did manage to elicit a few chuckles at least.
I’m not exactly sure why Underworld: Blood Wars was necessary and especially with the knowledge a sixth one is in the works, but as much as I disliked the previous entries (finding Awakening tolerable apparently, though I can’t remember one damn thing from it), this is probably the worst of the bunch.
Why Him? is certainly not very good but harmless enough and perhaps worth a watch if only for Bryan Cranston and even James Franco who at least were somewhat entertaining to behold as they both appeared to be having fun.
The final chapter in the Harry Potter saga, Deathly Hallows Part 2 is a fantastic ending highlighted by an intense, action-pakced, third act and nicely closes out giving a fitting conclusion to our favorite characters.