My Own Little World

I've taken a little more time in prepping my year-end wrap-up this year, mostly because I was making sure I had seen everything I wanted to in theaters before publishing. Like last year, I've written mini-reviews on all the films that I either saw too far into their theatrical run to do a full review on or after their home video release. Without further ado, I present to you Part 4 of the Rest of 2015... Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation - Buy it.  How can a franchise be this good in its fifth installment? M:I shows no signs of stopping with Rogue Nation , and neither does Tom Cruise, as he performs some of the most dangerous stunts of his career. The rest of the returning and new cast members make sure we don't lose the team dynamic that was so essential to Ghost Protocol . McQuarrie also has some great helming of the many action scenes, particularly the motorcycle chase. This is a thrill ride that keeps you on edge the whole time. Grade: 92 The Martian

I've taken a little more time in prepping my year-end wrap-up this year, mostly because I was making sure I had seen everything I wanted to in theaters before publishing. Like last year, I've written mini-reviews on all the films that I either saw too far into their theatrical run to do a full review on or after their home video release. Without further ado, I present to you Part 3 of the Rest of 2015... Ant-Man  - Buy it.   What sets Ant-Man apart is its unique tone. From 2014 on Marvel has done a really good job of making each film's tone distinct, and this continues with Ant-Man . It feels less like a superhero film and more like a heist comedy, allowing Paul Rudd to flex his comedic muscles quite a bit. The way Peyton Reed crafts the film's shrunken sequences puts a very unique mark on this Marvel film that will allow it to stand apart from the rest of their body of work.  Grade: 85 The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 2  - Watch it.  Mockingjay Pt. 2

I've taken a little more time in prepping my year-end wrap-up this year, mostly because I was making sure I had seen everything I wanted to in theaters before publishing. Like last year, I've written mini-reviews on all the films that I either saw too far into their theatrical run to do a full review on or after their home video release. Without further ado, I present to you Part 2 of the Rest of 2015... San Andreas  - Watch it, but only if it's free.  I got more out of San Andreas than expected. Yes, it was a little silly at times, very CGI driven, and a pretty pointless movie. But that's the point: it's a "turn your brain off" film, and a pretty well-made one at that. Dwayne Johnson shows off his action star chops well, while Paul Giamatti does pretty decently too as a seismologist. The massive destruction we see is also well done with some unexpected restraint. No, San Andreas  isn't great, but it's not bad for killing time.  Grade: 45

Some of you might be wondering what I'm doing reviewing a Passion album. In some of my previous posts, I've pointed out that I am not a fan of live worship albums, and that's all that Passion does. Granted, they do it better than almost anyone on an annual basis, but their releases are generally pretty similar year to year. If you've heard one, you've heard them all. Apparently, not anymore. When they released this online on January 1, I thought to myself, "That's weird: Passion 2016 hasn't even happened yet. There's no way they have a live album ready yet." Well, that's because it's not live: this album is completely recorded in a studio. I'm a little surprised I didn't hear more about this when Salvation's Tide Is Rising  dropped. This was a potential game-changer here. The last of the three major worship music camps (the other two are Bethel and Hillsong, by the way) to have not released a studio album is finall

I've taken a little more time in prepping my year-end wrap-up this year, mostly because I was making sure I had seen everything I wanted to in theaters before publishing. Like last year, I've written mini-reviews on all the films that I either saw too far into their theatrical run to do a full review on or after their home video release. Tomorrowland  - Watch it, but only if it's free.  There's something to be said for making an original film in today's industry. Too bad this one didn't quite pan out. Tomorrowland is able to highlight a couple good performances from George Clooney and Britt Robertson, but Hugh Laurie's villain seems a little thin. Brad Bird's direction is great too, but the third act makes the plot and characters of the first two acts seem incredibly thin. There's such a good build-up to the film's climax that when it fizzles out, it feels like a huge letdown. Grade: 59 Cinderella  - Watch it.  Cinderella succeeds sol

There are some people who have won Oscars and try to win them again. There are other people who haven't been exposed yet in Hollywood but are still gunning for the big prize. And then there's Leo. Seriously, though: Leonardo DiCaprio has been in a film with nearly every single A-list director in Hollywood. He's been directed by Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese, Christopher Nolan, James Cameron, Quentin Tarantino, Ridley Scott, Clint Eastwood, and Sam Mendes. Leo's also had very varied roles, playing everyone from Howard Hughes to an undercover cop trying to bust the mob to a plantation owner to a subconscious thief. There's one thing that keeps escaping Leo, however: Oscar gold. He's been nominated many times, but he's never had good luck with the lot of nominees he's been handed. Every single time he turns in an incredible performance and has been nominated, someone else steals the show. Well folks, if Leo gets snubbed again this year, there wi

There's something to be said for old-fashioned filmmaking. Many of my favorite directors use many elements that are considered "outdated" in their films to great success (I'm looking at you, Christopher Nolan and Steven Spielberg). However, I don't think I've seen a film from the past ten years that is more old-fashioned in its style than The Hateful Eight . That's probably to be expected from a director like Quentin Tarantino. Every single film of his is an homage of some kind to a genre of film that either has gone under the radar or away entirely. He also is a film buff in the most literal sense, going so far as to pay for the installation of one hundred 70mm film projectors worldwide to show a special "Roadshow" version of The Hateful Eight  that adds an overture, intermission, and six more minutes to the already long film. From the opening credits, I noticed two things that made me feel that this film was from a bygone era: the score b