10 Movies from 2015 That I Could Take or Leave

21. Aloha



There's a lot of pressure on Cameron Crowe to make great films and this is not a great film. It's reaching for something that it can't get hold of. But what it does manage to grasp, it does really well. It's a great-looking movie with characters I liked a lot and some intriguing moral dilemmas.

22. Furious 7



I'm a big fan of these of movies and that hasn't changed with this one. Still has lots of what I love about this series: tough people, awesome stunts, and a ton of heart. But the plot is thinner this time (and they're always pretty thin), so that and the bittersweetness around Paul Walker's death bring it down for me. It's an amazing technical achievement though in terms of stunts and filling in scenes that Walker hadn't been in. A solid entry in the series, but not one of the best.

23. Kingsman: The Secret Service



X-Men: First Class always makes me forget that Matthew Vaughn is also the director behind Kick-Ass. And everything that turns me off about Kick-Ass is a problem for me in Kingsman as well. I'd put all the blame on Mark Millar, but I like Wanted, so I think it's the combination of Millar and Vaughn. They're both thrilled/intrigued/whatever by hyper-violence and just being really super explicit. I'm not, so including that in an otherwise cool story about dapper spies is a big drawback for me.

24. Terminator: Genisys



I didn't even want to give this a chance. I'd written off the Terminator franchise as something I'm no longer interested in. I mean, I don't use the word "franchise" very often when I'm talking about a movie series. I much prefer to think in terms of continuing story, and "franchise" sounds so business-y. But that's exactly what the Terminator movies have become, with the rights-holders leasing out the property to anyone who wants to reboot it and try to make some more money.

David was really curious about this one though and it became an excuse to show him the first two. So we went and it was surprisingly watchable. I have many problems with the story and both Jason Clarke and Jai Courtney are boring, but Emilia Clarke is an awesome substitute for Linda Hamilton and Schwarzenegger is at the absolute top of his game. I loved both of their characters and the relationship between them.

25. The DUFF



The title is horrible and I was afraid that the movie would be, too. It's a lot of fun, actually, with a nice message about being comfortable in your own skin. Not quite on the level with Easy A, Ten Things I Hate About You, or the best John Hughes movies, but a solid high school comedy. I might even rank it higher after another viewing or two.

26. The Hateful Eight



Great idea. Killer cast. Pretty to look at. Fantastic score by Ennio Morricone. And I was intrigued by the building of the mystery.

But it could've been 45 minutes shorter without losing anything of the story. There's too much dialogue that I don't care about and too many long, sweeping shots of countryside. It's gorgeous countryside, but an hour into the movie, I was ready to get on with things. I was also disappointed in the solution to the mystery, but at least there's no room for boredom as that's unfolding.

I saw the shorter cut without the intermission and ironically, I think the longer version may have helped some of my issues. More specifically, having the intermission as a palate cleanser may have helped. Would like to try it that way and find out.

27. While We’re Young



I like the ideas in While We're Young. Transitioning into maturity is a weird process that deserves some exploration. Very few people actually feel mature. Instead, we think of ourselves as younger than we are, so it can be startling to confront the reality and challenging to ease into the mindset that growing older doesn't mean not having fun anymore.

All of that is cool and While We're Young touches on it, but then it gets distracted by a theme it's way more interested in: the importance of veracity in documentary film-making. Which is also thought-provoking, but not what I signed up for. Still, great cast and it was this movie that made me realize I'm an Adam Driver fan.

28. Jupiter Ascending



So ambitious and so cool. Doesn't deserve the John Carter-level derision it got (but then, neither did John Carter). Sadly, though it's fun, it's not great. As in, I totally would have paid money for sequels, but it's not that big a deal to me that there won't be any.

29. Focus



I suffer enough Will Smith Fatigue that I wasn't going to watch this one at all. The trailer made it seem very serious and all about whether untrustworthy people can trust each other, so yawn. But then I heard some positive reviews about how it's really just a fun heist movie and I'm always up for that. And it is a really fun heist movie. A mediocre one, but enjoyable and at least it's not dour.

30. Mortdecai



I thought this might be interesting to watch after re-visiting the Pink Panther movies this year. Johnny Depp's cartoon mode has grown tiresome in the last few years, but he's doing it less in Mortdecai (meaning that you can glimpse a human being under all those mannerisms) and his supporting cast (Ewan McGregor, Gwyneth Paltrow, and especially Paul Bettany) are doing great, comedic work. Jeff Goldblum has a fun role, too. All that plus an entertaining caper plot and the whole experience was much more than I hoped for.

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20. The Maze Runner



I was a bit disappointed that The Maze Runner is more interested in setting up a series than in telling a complete story on its own, but even though it's only a partial story, it tells it in a captivating way. I love how it dumped me into the world cold and made me learn about it along with the main character. And the supporting characters and group dynamics all held my attention, too. Towards the end, the movie gets ridiculous about withholding information to prolong suspense, but I like everything else enough that I'm looking forward to the sequel.

19. John Wick



Total surprise. I knew nothing about this before it came out and if I had known about it, I probably would've ignored it. I enjoy Keanu Reeves most when he's playing air guitar with Alex Winter, not as the wooden tough guy. Some positive reviews piqued my interest though, and I agree with them that John Wick is a fun and exciting movie that almost parodies '80s action flicks, but really ends up just hugging them.

18. Muppets Most Wanted



As a sequel to The Muppets, this was very disappointing. That movie set a high bar and I'm not sure that Muppets Most Wanted even tried to top it. As Muppet films go, it's average; neither among the best nor the worst. If I let it stand on its own though and compare it to most of the other movies I saw this year, its still very funny (especially the Ty Burrell/Sam the Eagle team-up) and I had a great time watching it.

17. The Expendables 3



I didn't enjoy the first Expendables movie really at all, except for the novelty of seeing those actors together in a single film. I was disappointed by the plot and by how little Bruce Willis and Schwarzenegger were in it. The Expendables 2 was a lot better, but Chuck Norris' goofy, squeezed-in-sideways cameo was a big downer. The Expendables 3 was the one I've been waiting for. Lots of my favorite action stars and some of them in small roles, but those small roles made sense for the story and everyone had at least one great moment. The story itself is nothing special, but man I love these actors and the final showdown is a legitimately great set piece.

16. Grand Piano



Like a few other movies on my lists this year, Grand Piano is technically a 2013 release, but I'm going by the dates the movies were made available to people in the US outside of just New York, LA, and film festivals. Grand Piano isn't a perfect thriller, but it's a really good one with Elijah Wood as a troubled pianist who has to save himself and others while playing a concert and not missing a single note. It's overrating it to compare it to Hitchcock's best work, but if you like Hitchcock-like thrillers with normal people trying to make it through someone else's outlandish scheme, I highly recommend this one.

15. Neighbors



Hilarious, but also surprisingly poignant. Could have just been a Revenge of the Nerds-style war between squares and popular people, but instead it takes the time to explore fears of growing up, on both sides of the battle lines.

14. Sin City: A Dame to Kill For



Coming out nine years after the first one killed this movie. If it had been released in 2006 or so, it would have been embraced as more of what people liked about Sin City. There's not a thing wrong with it that wasn't also wrong with the first one; it's a perfectly good companion piece. But waiting so long gave people the chance to forget the first one and wonder, "Why make a sequel now?" It feels kind of pointless. Unless of course you really dug the first one and are glad to have another movie just like it. Which is where I'm sitting.

13. Interstellar



Interstellar is both way more and way less than I wanted it to be. There's a lot going on in it, but at just under three hours long, it still doesn't pay enough attention to any of it's many characters and themes. There are things that I love, like Matthew McConaughey's relationship with his young daughter, and the questions the movie raises about the limits of selflessness and altruism. Sadly, it never develops these very well. But I like it for trying, I like it for its awesome cast, and I like it for its stunning visuals and unforgettable set pieces. I wish the final picture was better, but it's pieces are amazing.

12. Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit



I almost forgot I reviewed this one, but I did, so I'll send you there. Short version is that the plot is pretty boilerplate (as is Kenneth Branagh's villain, sadly), but I like that Chris Pine's Jack Ryan is still an analyst first and gets dragged into the spy stuff sort of kicking and screaming. What makes the movie though are Keira Knightley and Kevin Costner, who bring a lot of heart and depth to characters who could have been nothing.

11. 22 Jump Street



As much as I was pleasantly surprised by 21 Jump Street, that's exactly why I wasn't excited about the sequel. Now that I knew what to expect, how could 22 Jump Street possibly surprise me again? Wouldn't it just be more of the same? Well, yeah, except that "the same" means that it's still really funny and has a pair of completely lovable leads. It screws around with the formula of the first one though just enough to be fresh and it also adds some great new actors (especially Jillian Bell who nearly steals the movie).