The Martian (2015)

Sir Ridley Scott is finally back on track. There's no argument that his last couple films have not been up to his standard. However, now he has gone back to his roots to bring us an adaptation of the sci-fi novel by Andy Weir The Martian.

The story itself is pretty straightforward. Mark Watney (Matt Damon) is presumed dead when stuck with debris during a storm on Mars. When the rest of his crew decides to abort and he turns out to be alive, Watney must ration his remaining resources in an attempt to same himself and make contact with NASA. Despite the familiar storyline (can you say Cast Away meets Apollo 13?), only a true mastermind behind the camera can give the story so much depth and make it so enthralling.

The cast is definitely one of the best ensembles of the year. Everyone does fantastic with the roles given to them, namely Chiwetel Ejiofor and Jeff Daniels. And while everyone does a great job in the movie, the man whose shoulders the film truly rests on is Matt Damon, and he excels in every scene he is in. The audience is always eager to follow Damon's successes and failures on Mars. Damon is so good at playing a wise- cracking scientist and showing us what it might actually be like to get left on Mars alone. With Damon's character, the movie is allowed to delve into themes about what makes us human and our drive to help one another.

Me and Earl and Dying Girl (2015)

Me and Earl and the Dying Girl offers a very accessible, honest, and humorous look at not only how someone deals with being diagnosed with cancer, but it also turns the clichés of the coming-of-age story on its nose, and the people behind this film are able to do that by finding the perfect balance between drama and comedy within this unfortunate tragedy.

Me and Earl and the Dying Girl centers around Greg (Thomas Mann), a very sarcastic and self-loathing high school student going into his senior year. Greg believes that if he shuts everyone out of his life so that he won't have to deal with anything, then things will be okay, and this gives him a sort of self-gratification. So to uphold his philosophy, he doesn't try to be friends with anyone, but makes sure he's on low-key, good terms with everyone in his school. However, he does spend his time with his co-worker/"friend" Earl (RJ Cyler) making parodies of classic foreign cinema together. However, when Greg learns from his mother that a childhood friend of his, Rachel (Olivia Cooke) is diagnosed with Leukemia, Greg begins a blossoming friendship with Rachel; a friendship that would take him through the best of times, the worst of times, and eventually shape him into the person that he will become.

Paper Town (2015)

Maybe I'm getting old. These over-serious, platitude-filled teen dramas used to only mildly annoy me. Now, with Paper Towns, I feel myself getting irrationally angry at its desperate plea to be this generation's The Breakfast Club. From where is that resentment coming? Maybe it's that I'm a 30-year-old married-father who's not meant to like this movie. Maybe it's that I'm coming off the high of the teen drama Me and Earl and the Dying Girl. Whatever it is, Paper Towns irritated much more than it charmed. The premise has potential: nerd spends one magically frivolous night with the enigmatic girl of his dreams, Margot, before she inexplicably disappears. Instead of being unique, stylish, or progressive, it becomes the lament of the rich-white-teen and the manic pixie dream girl. Our "hero" is drawn to her magnetic mystery, but that appeal never reaches the audience

The film follows Quentin (Nat Wolff) , or "Q" as he is more popularly called, a highschool boy who has been nursing an unrequited love for the girl living next door, Margo (Cara Delevigne) since childhood. Even after when they turn 12, when Margo suddenly becomes distant, "Q" never loses the affection, and it only becomes even stronger when one day she climbs again to his window, the way she did when they were still kids. The next events follow an eager "Q" savoring the moment as he escorts Margo in her series of "small revenge" against those she thinks have betrayed her, including her ex-boyfriend. But the levitating moment would only last overnight, because the next day, the ever mystifying Margo, disappears.

The Maze Runner : The Scorch Trials (2015)

This film is the sequel to 2013's "The Maze Runner" and is the second adaptation of James Dashner's initial "Maze Runner" trilogy (which has since added a prequel and is about to add another). The story is even more divergent (pun intended) from its source material than the previous movie was, this time preserving not much more than the mythology, main characters and the most important of plot points.

The action picks up right where it left off at the end of the first film, with Thomas (Dylan O'Brien) and the remaining Gladers, Newt (Thomas Brodie-Sangster), Minho (Ki Hong Lee), Teresa Agnes (Kaya Scodelario), Frypan (Dexter Darden) and Winston (Alexander Flores), taken by those who rescued them to a large facility where there's food and fresh clothes. These teens find out that theirs was not the only maze and they become friends with fellow survivor Aris Jones (Jacob Lofland), who suspects that there's more to their new home than meets the eye. The facility's manager, Mr. Janson (Aiden Gillen), assures the Gladers that they're safe now and will soon be taken to a more permanent and more comfortable home. Meanwhile, their freedom is restricted and security is tight. Every day, Janson calls out a list of names and those young people head for their new home. Aris suspects that those who are called never really leave the facility, suffering a fate that is less than comfortable. Soon, Thomas is convinced too.

Dark Places

This film tells the story of a woman whose mother and her two sisters were murdered on their farm at night. Her brother is convicted of murdering the three family members. She gets contacted by a club that is intrigued by mysterious murders, and she is forced to confront her multilayered traumatic past.

Ever since I saw the trailer I was driven towards seeing "Dark Places". Firstly, I always like Charlize Theron as an actress and a woman and I enjoy seeing her characterizations which often are full of depth and underline subtext, which divides great actors from good ones. The poster itself was quite interesting to look at. It's Charlize as the protagonist Libby Day being in the fetal position trying to find peace and serenity. The screenplay was adopted from the Gillian Flynn's novel by the same name who is also known for his contribution to very well executed movie of 2014 in "Gone Girl". "Dark Places" might not be equal to the standard and quality set by David Fincher movie but it is enjoyable enough to justify seeing it.

American Sniper (2014)

American Sniper is Clint Eastwood's harrowing take on Chris Kyle's life and his service in the Navy as a SEAL sniper who killed nearly 200 enemy soldiers. The film is relentlessly violent and disturbing but honors the life of the late Chris Kyle in a very admirable way. It doesn't show this man as an invincible legend, it shows him as a mere man with a heart and soul that are clearly broken due to his sacrifice for his country.

Good work on Bradley Cooper's part as well, putting on the weight and getting into character to play Chris Kyle, a sniper for the navy seals who did four tours in Iraq protecting his fellow troops by being a legendary shot. the Movie explores Kyle having to deal with a rival sniper who was keeping him from doing the job of protecting his troops and having to deal with coming home to his wife and kids feeling that his mission was incomplete.

Serena (2014)

Having read, and enjoyed, Ron Rash's novel I am not sure what I saw on the screen. I don't know who is to blame -- the director, the editor or the screen writer. They did not stick to the book so if you liked the book, this film is not it. The story tries to focus on a seldom exposed setting of the time frame and place combination. There are quite many movies about the depression era, but most of them are movies about mobsters, bootleggers, or at least there is a significant crime and violence portion within them. There are also movies about mountainous country sides and or the logging and timber companies or industries, but none of them takes the specific depression era time setting.

Nevertheless, I think that the story's interesting starting point doesn't really give any warranty that developed story lives up to it. Although the first few minutes of the movie is nicely unpredictable, especially on how the main characters meet and marry, but the rest of the rest becomes very much so right after.

Bier's Serena is the same story boiled down into an unmemorable soap opera fluff cash-grab buddy flick oddly devoid of any chemistry. Not unlike the "expendables" franchise, one gets the impressions that the films main stars are never actually in the same room together. The "surprises" Bier plants aren't surprises if you're familiar with the novel.

If I Stay - Review (2014)

I'm going to make it fast tbh. I'm extremely disappointed with this movie. i couldn't wait to watch this movie. ut when this movie couldn't make it into my theater, I was a sad potato. The movie fails to express any real, palpable emotions. In some defining parts of the movies, where you should start getting some feelings, I rather felt annoyed by awful sound effects, terrible acting and depressing transitions.

Chloe Grace Moretz is one of the best actress on her generation, she is beautiful and very talented. But in this movie she is very disappointed me. And the others acting were MEH.  It's not that she didn't stay true to the book, she just didn't act very well at all.  The actor who played Adam was terrible as well.

I love the book, the book is very weepy, but the movie is not that much.. It's very disappointed. The book is way better than this movie. And when they cast Chloe i thought she would be really good. and The CGI was MEh as well. Such as Adam's band not being called "Shooting Star"; a lot of Adam trying to get into the ICU to see Mia being cut; the film trying to instill a bit more hope in Mia's family surviving the car crash than there is in the book, as well as more drama in Adam and Mia's relationship; and then there are general cuts you recognize had to be done. Things like us seeing how Mia and Kim became friends; seeing Kim's mom; the lead up to Mia's grandpa taking her to her Julliard audition; and a lot of the back stories including Willow's and her grandparents.