for those of you that care, here’s my top picks for movies in 2015!

1. Ex Machina – what a concept!  great acting all around plus great visuals
2. Star Wars: The Force Awakens – JJ does it again with a solid all around movie, but he better watch out for duplicating past plots too much (i.e. Star Wars Into Darkness and Wrath of Kahn)
3. Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation – i love the MI franchise and Tom Cruise doesn’t disappoint.  i hope the addition of Ferguson in the next installment doesn’t ruin the dynamic.
4. Mad Max: Fury Road – that guitar guy sealed the deal for me
5. Everest – speaking to the adventurist in me, i enjoyed the grittiness and true story aspect
6. The Martian – fun humor with a fun cast
7. Furious 7 – the action is so ridic you have to respect that
8. The Gift – a surprisingly dark movie that has perhaps ruined Jason Bateman for me
9. Kingsman: The Secret Service – a breakout role for the male lead and i enjoyed all those British actors in one place
10. Southpaw – i’m a sucker for boxing movies

biggest disappointments for me this year have been:

1. Spectre – weak plot and action sequences that made no sense
2. Ant-Man – despite Paul Rudd and an excellent entourage, perhaps i was expecting too much but this was way too predictable and that romance doesn’t feel organic
3. The Avengers: Age of Ultron – i hear it’s better upon second viewing but it got too convoluted for me

good, but perhaps overhyped:

1. Sicario

made more enjoyable because the friends i was with:

1. Straight Outta Compton

movies i haven’t seen yet that may make it on this list:

1. Macbeth
2. Creed
3. Revenant
4. The Big Short
5. The Walk