Ant-Man may just be the most interesting film that Marvel Studios greenlit. Gone are the destruction, the scale, the clash of gods and titans, and taking their place is an ordinary bloke in a extraordinary suit doing his thing across a number of rooms. Talk about unusual, right? Throw in the film’s long and tumultuous production, and it becomes the one film set in the MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe) that moviegoers aren’t completely sold by and keep a wary eye on. Now that it has arrived, how does it stand? Well, it turns out to be a safe and serviceable flick – nothing more, perhaps something less depending on who you are.

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If you were to judge Me and Earl and the Dying Girl – one of the favorites from this year’s Sundance Film Festival – based on first glance, you’d be forgiven for thinking that it would be either a “girl with cancer” movie á la The Fault in Our Stars or a quirky, wannabe Wes Anderson flick, or perhaps a combination of the two. What you may not expect is a creative, idiosyncratic film that balances laughs and heartfelt emotion – and that’s exactly what this film is.

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Inside Out is Pixar’s greatest achievement. To many, this will come across as a bold statement; after all, it’s only been about a week since the film’s release. However, I’ve had fruitful discussions with friends about the picture and put much careful thought into it, and while it may be early to say it, I’m quite confident in my opinion. The film rivals Toy Story as the best feature film to date from the studio, and it’s also its most ambitious, creative, moving, and smartly written one to boot. But above all, what makes it such a tremendous film is its empathy.

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I’ve been compromised; I admit that I cannot completely enter into a critic’s state of mind when reviewing the long-anticipated Jurassic World. I watched a ton of movies when growing up, but Jurassic Park was one of the three that anchored my childhood (with Star Wars and Free Willy being the other two). Watching dinosaurs come to life was a magical experience like no other, and that had me hooked for the rest of my life. I bought the toys, I played make-believe Jurassic Park and video games with my friends, I wanted to be a paleontologist, I don’t fully hate the sequels, and I caught the film’s re-release back in 2013.

Emotional attachment is a funny thing, as it clouds judgment and evokes fond, personal experiences and memories, and it’s difficult to resist. It’s like telling your child that you loved his or her performance in the school play, even though it actually wasn’t great. That’s exactly how I feel about Jurassic World. It’s tailor-made for the fans who were shaped by the franchise, and I suspect that they will react to so strongly such that the act of being transported to this familiar world outweighs the film’s flaws.

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Last year, Martin Scorsese penned a public letter to his daughter, expressing how films nowadays can be made for little money and how important it is to maintain the spark that leads one to making a film. He’s right; what’s unique about this time is that anyone can be a filmmaker. All anyone needs is a camera and an editing system, and he/she can make a film just the way that he/she originally envisioned, without any interference whatsoever. With that, the filmmaker’s voice is preserved, which is something that any director or writer working in Hollywood would kill for.

I couldn’t help but think back to this letter after watching Jim Akin’s second feature-length film, The Ocean of Helena Lee, because it encapsulates just what Scorsese wrote about. Here is a film that was produced with just a thousand dollars and – from its first to final frame – expresses and maintains its filmmaker’s vision and voice. While it does have its fair share of flaws, you can’t help but admire its spirit and tenacity to show and tell a personal human experience.

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Avengers: Age of Ultron has a lot of expectations to juggle. It’s the follow-up to the all-time biggest superhero film, so moviegoers naturally anticipate a bigger, grander picture with new characters. It’s tasked with pushing the MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe) narrative closer to the inevitable showdown that we’ll see in the two-part Avengers: Infinity War. Director and writer Joss Whedon said he’s looked to Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back and The Godfather Part II, arguably two of the best sequel films, as inspirations. I’ve never seen so much coverage regarding a film’s opening weekend box office prospects since Avatar. Under such pressure, it’s naive to believe that the film won’t buckle, and buckle it occasionally does. Nevertheless, this globetrotting flick never fails to entertain with its relentless action and energy, even though its reach exceeds its grasp.

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(UPDATE: 02/22/15, 9:26 p.m.: I went 19/24 this year, which is about my average when it comes to predicting the Oscars over the years. The categories I got wrong were Director, Animated Feature, Original Screenplay, Film Editing, and Sound Mixing. Of these, Director, Original Screenplay, Film Editing, and Sound Mixing were really tricky categories to predict. Here’s to better luck next year!)

The time has come to take my annual psychic test, and I find myself both excited and unsure. The Oscars ceremony is set to televise in less than 24 hours, and I’ll be second-guessing my predictions down to the wire. This is the most competitive Oscar race in recent memory (even with this year’s snubs in mind – I cry for thee, A Most Violent Year), and for those who have been following this race for years, we’re in for a treat. There’s only a handful of guaranteed wins, and it’s so close for a good number of categories that only one in as many as three films can win that coveted statuette. This is going to be a nail-biter, and I find it humorous and somewhat sad how I’m using that word to describe an awards event that really doesn’t matter in the grand scheme of things.

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Watching A Most Violent Year is a blast from the past. It hearkens back to the brooding crime drama films from the ’70s and ’80s, which were irresistibly good ol’ fashioned adult entertainment. When was the last time we saw those types of films? Those were films that weren’t afraid to dive into dark territory yet packed nourishing food for thought – the films that showcased decent and sympathetic characters driven to making decisions that determine who they will be. This is a film that has all these goodies on full display, and what a grand show it is.

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