Zootopia

Zootopia directed by Byron Howard, Rich Moore, and Jared Bush, with the voices of Ginnifer Goodwin, Jason Bateman, Idris Elba, Bonnie Hunt, Tommy Chong, J. K. Simmons, and Alan Tudyk.

One of the best kids movies and family to be made - hands down.  It's basically just a buddy cop movie for kids and all the better for it.  It also isn't trying to make some kind of political statement but instead relies on the old tried to true formula - character is the best thing.  Create good characters and no matter how crazy or insane the story line, it won't matter one bit because the characters will move the story line a long. 

I just loved the premise of this movie. 

The world building of this movie was also out of this world as it showed so much of the world in the beginning but then only explored a few sections of this world leaving everyone at the end of it just wanting more.  A sequel will be justifiable and well deserved.  That's another thing that made this movie work is that it didn't try to do to much but stayed focused on the two main characters, then let them walk through the story and introduce the world as they solved the mysterious macguffin of the story.  This movie has more heart, focus, passion, characterization, story, and better acting than about 75% of the movies that Hollywood churns out. 

Extraction

Extraction directed by a guy I don't know and I hope I don't judge his entire career based on this movie, starring Kellan "Wooden" Lutz, Bruce "I'm here to pick up a pay check and there's nothing wrong with that" Willis, and Gina "Just stick to the action scenes and not the acting scenes" Carano.

Simply put one of the worst action movies I've ever seen. It's not even by the numbers as it tries so hard to be by the numbers.  I honestly felt sorry for some of the bad guys in this movies as the choices the "good guys" made, made no sense to me.  The fight scenes are boring, lacing any form of passion or heart.  The characters and dialogue are not even by the numbers but completely boring and they even manage to go a few levels below boring.  There were so many times the movie felt shot for TV versus shot for the movie theater.  Then my wife informed the main character was one of the vampires from the Twilight movie and then it all clicked for me as they were trying to ride the wave of his "popularity" with this action movie. 

A good example of how not to make a movie.

Brooklyn

Brooklyn directed by John Crowley, starring Saoirse Ronan, Hugh Gromley, Brid Brennan, Maeve McGrath, Emma Lowe, Barbara Drennan, Gillian McCarthy, Emory Cohen, and Domhnall Gleeson.

This is a good old fashioned movie with little story line but high on characterization.  They don't make a lot movies like this anymore.  Movies now-a-days are more concerned with over the top action scenes, out of control computer effects, and budgets that could fund most small nations for decades.  It was amazing to find a movie that was concerned with none of this but was only concerned with the story about a woman growing up in America - specifically in Brooklyn (of the title and that specificity is crucial to the story) - away from her home county of Ireland. 

There is absolutely nothing complicated about this story as it ushers in all sorts of storytelling techniques from the Golden Age of movies.  I just don't hardly see many movies this brave and daring to rest the entire story on the shoulders of one single character.  But I've got to admit I got caught up in her story.  I felt for her as she left her country to come to America.  I felt for her leaving everything behind - mother and sister.  Her lack of friends.  Her starting completely over from nothing and then moving her way up slowly but surely.  I couldn't help but root for her to succeed.  The movie's greatest addition is when she finds a boyfriend from Brooklyn.  His character not only brought a jolt of life to the movie but also sparked some fire in the main character and not in the sort of way that said a woman needed a man to complete her life but in a way a true friend brightens the life of a person.  Watching their relationship grow was a thing of beauty.  Then the true test of her growth was shown when she went back to Ireland and the choices and decisions she  made there really showed how she had grown.

Truly a gem of movie that needs to be seen and talked about more.

Crimson Peak

Crimson Peak directed by Guillermo del Toro, starring Mia Wasikowska, Jessica Chastain, Tom Hiddleston, and Charlie Hunnam.

Honestly, I thought this movie was more style over substance and was one of del Toro's worst films he's made.  I had no real connection to any of the characters.  They felt more cliche and cardboard than most cartoon characters feels.  Even the production design, which I think was supposed to be the big draw of this film felt rather flat and stale.  No where near as inspiring as some of this other movies.  Out of all of his movies this one definitely feels like a by the numbers one.  Guillermo del Toro's movies normally seem to have a lot of life to them even if there camping it up but this one is his most lifeless movie he's ever done.  The movie as a real Edgar Allen Poe feel to everything about it - from the story to the visuals - I just wish it had conjured up some of Poe's eeriness and creepiness instead of what followed as complete waste of my time.  

The Peanuts Movie

The Peanuts Movie directed by Steve Martino, with the voices of Noah Schnapp, Venus Schultheis, Alexander Garfin, and Hadley Belle Miller.

I'm not a huge Peanuts fan but I've got to admit this is one of the best Peanut media related projects ever made.  It completely captured the spirit of Peanuts with every single frame of this film.  It did a proud salute to Charles Schultz and everything he stood for.  All in all it was a great movie to see and a worthy addition to any family collection of movies.  I also loved how Blue Sky integrated hand drawn animation in with the computer animation - it totally gelled with Schultz's vision and made the movie that much more perfect.