2015 movie overview

I saw quite a few new movies in the theater this past year, that I never reviewed or wrote about.  I thought I'd write up a quick summary now.  I’m not sure why, but I didn’t actually review any of the new movies I saw this year at the time I saw them.


Cinderella – Oh so pretty and nice.  Adore that blue dress of hers.  Probably the least stressful movie I saw the entire year, it is just... nice.  Not one I have any particular desire to see again. 

Tomorrowland – Meh.  This movie only got interesting when George Clooney made the scene, which was like halfway through.  I thought the lead girl was miscast.  She didn’t work for me.  Best part was the end fight between George Clooney and Hugh Laurie, which completely cracked me up, particularly when they stop fighting the minute they realize they’re all alone, then start up again the second they’re back.  This movie had lots of potential, but just didn’t seem to gel properly.

San Andreas – Really enjoyed this one.  Just a highly entertaining, over-the-top disaster movie with likeable characters.  I laughed all the way through, but in a pleased, I'm-being-entertained way.

Avengers: Age of Ultron – Disappointing, but then again, it had impossible shoes to fill.  Too much plot, and (oddly for me) too much fighting that didn’t advance the plot.  Did have great humor, and I was absolutely delighted with all the Hawkeye stuff, cuz nothing bugged me more than people trying to make Hawkeye and Black Widow a current item in the first Avengers, and this nicely put that to rest.  I always wonder why people don’t appreciate the power of friendship over romantic love?  Loved all the new characters.  But dude, soooooooo disappointed that Thomas Kretschmann was only in it for like five minutes.  Hmph.  I didn't bother buying it on DVD, but will probably pick it up at some future point. 

Jurassic World – I’m not sure what it means when the only characters I cared what happened to were the velociraptors, but that's how it was.  The people were particularly lame and stupid (Chris Pratt excepted) and not enough of them got eaten.  I only cared about those four velociraptors, particularly Blue.  The end was quite fun and satisfying, though.

Spy – Surprisingly funny.  I was not expecting to like this one as much as I did.  Loved Jude Law, and Jason Statham was awesomely hilarious.  Those two really made this movie.  I even didn’t mind Melissa McCarthy.  I will probably pick this up on DVD.

Terminator: Genisys – I liked this one.  The time travel stuff was cool.  But whoever was in charge of the trailers was an idiot because they gave away their game in the trailers, and that really got me mad.  I think the movie would have been much better not knowing a few things.  I'm quite fond of Jai Courtney and enjoyed his version of Kyle Reese (even if I will only ever really be able to picture Michael Biehn in the role).

Ant-Man – Loved this one!  Was my favorite new movie of the year until Force Awakens came out.  Light, funny, great action scenes.  Loved the characters.  Loved the ants.  Really want that Ant-Man suit, even more than I want Iron Man’s suit.  Never thought I’d say that!  Bought on DVD immediately.

Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation – Good, solid, but lacked the humor of Ghost Protocol and didn't have nearly enough Jeremy Renner, so it does not displace GP as my favorite of the Mission Impossible movies.  However, Alec Baldwin was a bonus, and Rebecca Ferguson was great.  Also had opera in it!  Turandot, which was lovely, even if they played the opera out of order.

Man from UNCLE – Great fun.  Loved this one too, though I wish it had a different score.  Loved the characters and actors, loved the plot.  Bought on DVD immediately.

Shaun the Sheep – Loved this one!  Sweet, cute, funny, and far more touching than I thought it would be.  My sister bought the DVD immediately, so I can watch it there, but I may have to pick up my own copy at some point.

Hitman Agent 47 – Really only went to see it because Thomas Kretschmann was in it, but it ended up being a lot of fun and very entertaining.  And Ciaran Hinds was in it, which I didn’t know going in, and getting to see him and Mr. Kretschmann together was awesome.  I may pick this one up on DVD at some point too, for Mr. Krestschmann and Mr. Hinds.  Good no-brainer action flick.

Pixels – Had a lot of fun in this one too.  Went to catch it because the trailers cracked me up.  It delivered exactly what the trailer promised, and I enjoyed it a lot.  Sean Bean and Brian Cox were hilarious together.  I loved the premise, and the whole thing was just... popcorn fun.  Those are the games I grew up playing, though I was only ever good at Space Invaders. 

Pan – Another movie I really liked.  Loved the characters, loved the fantastic visuals, and it was also surprisingly funny.  Levi Miller as Peter was adorable and perfect.  Garrett Hedlund and Hugh Jackman were great.  I will probably pick this up on DVD, but my sister nabbed it, so at the moment, we can watch at her house any time, so I'm not in a hurry.

Last Witch Hunter – Enjoyable.  Vin Diesel is always entertaining.  I didn't know Michael Caine was in this until I saw it!  I was disappointed there wasn't more of Vin Diesel in his Viking garb, cuz he rocked that look.  Really liked Rose Leslie in it as well.

Crimson Peak – I’m not a horror person at all, and only went to see this because my sister is a huge Tom Hiddleston fan and she wanted company.  To my great surprise, I loved this movie and loved the characters.  It wasn’t really horror, and wasn’t remotely scary, which was a relief.  Mostly, it’s just an old-fashioned, gothic romance.  The movie is so very beautiful, I ooohed and ahhhed throughout.  Now, it did have the most ridiculously gruesome helpful ghosts, but they were so outrageously fake that we just laughed every time they came on screen.  There were a few scenes of violence, however, that were so graphic, I had to look away.  Not scary, just... too graphic.  But we liked it so much we went back to see it again.  We took my niece... and she did not laugh at the ghosts... she thought they were freaky and quite scary... so my sister and I might be the only people who were unfazed by the ghosts.  Will buy this on DVD as soon as it comes out.

Spectre – Disappointing.  The first half was great, then the movie derailed.  I’m not sure why, but they made Blofeld the most boring Bond villain ever.  He seems patterned after Donald Pleasance’s version of Blofeld, who was also quite bland, so maybe this was actually their goal?  In which case they achieved it spectacularly.  Boring, unthreatening, and I just didn’t care.  Dave Bautista, however, was fabulous, and his exit marked the start of when this movie went off track.  It did have great action sequences, I particularly love the snow chase, and I still adore Daniel Craig as Bond.  He can personally do no wrong for me in the role.  I only saw it once, though, and it's hard to fairly judge a movie on one viewing.  I'll pick it up on DVD when it comes out, cuz... Daniel Craig, and give it another go then.

The Good Dinosaur – wow, this was surprisingly violent, dark, more than a little bit creepy and weird, none of which their trailers seemed to indicate.  The trailers make this movie seem cute and child-friendly, and... not so much.  There were more than one kid crying in our theater during this film, which is never a good sign.  One was saying, “I don’t like this movie!  I want to go home!” as he bawled his eyes out, poor kid.  So, I guess this is the Pixar film that scars a generation of young ones?  The animation of the landscape was outstanding and exquisitely done.  It’s getting to a point where it’s photo perfect.  By contrast the dinosaurs were very fake and animated.  Kind of a weird contrast. 

The Force Awakens -- First time I saw this, I liked it a lot, but had to do a lot of processing and thinking and letting it settle in my brain, then the second viewing was great and I knew I loved this movie.  Third viewing was also great, but the fourth viewing... that was the wow, I LOVE THIS MOVIE viewing, the emotional tear-up at everything viewing. My family saw it twice on New Year's Day, so that was great fun.  I love the new characters, love the old characters, love the score.  Really, there is very little I don't love about this one.  Poe's my favorite new character, but I adore Rey and Finn just as much.  Rey is wonderful.  Kylo Ren and Hux are great as our new bad guys.  Han, Leia, and Luke... yeah.  And Chewie!  Chewie has always been cool, but in this one he was even more so.  Chewie totally rocked.  I should probably write something a bit more proper on this one, given how important Star Wars is in my life.  I'm sure there will be quite a few more viewings before this leaves the theater.  (Only on viewing five right now... LOL!)  Will, of course, grab this on DVD the second it's out, and I really really hope they release a complete version of the score.  The one that's out is lovely, but it's missing some important music.

So, those were the 2015 films I saw when they were released in the theater.  Quite a lot!  Tomorrowland and Good Dinosaur were at the bottom.  Force Awakens and Ant-Man at the top.  With a lot of good solid entertaining movies in the middle.  Very pleased with this last year's theatrical releases.