Nightcrawler

What I liked:

• Jake Gyllenhaal gives his best performance yet.  His character is so charming yet creepy at the same time and Gyllenhaal does it flawlessly.
• The supporting cast is wonderful: Bill Paxton, Ann Cusak, Rene Russo, and Riz Ahmed.
• The story is interesting, twisted, and scary if true.

Birdman

What I liked:

• It's an interesting look at the life of a former Hollywood star.
• Michael Keaton is fantastic.
• It's nice to see Emma Stone play something a littler darker.
• Edward Norton!
• It also stars Zach Galifianakis, Naomi Watts, Andrea Risenborough, and Merritt Wever.
• The special effects are cool.

St. Vincent

What I liked:

• Bill Murray is great.
• It's nice to see Melissa McCarthy in a more serious role.
• Naomi Watts is highly entertaining.
• Jaeden Lieberher is adorable and talented.
• It also stars Chris O'Dowd, Terrence Howard, and Scott Adsit.

Dear White People

What I liked:

• It's well made by first time feature film writer/director Justin Simien and even more impressive that is was all shot in a month.
• The entire cast is great: Tyler James Williams, Tessa Thompson, Kyle Gallner, Teyonah Parris, Brandon P Bell, Brittany Curran, Justin Dobies, Marque Richardson, Dennis Haysbert, Peter Syvertsen, Brandon Alter, and Keith Meyers.
• Um, that's Dawn from Mad Men!
• It's smart.  It's witty.  It makes you think.  It makes you sad.  It makes you wonder why people just can't be people.
• There is a shout out to Banksy!

The Good Lie

What I liked:

• It sheds light on a sad and unfortunate story.
• It stars Reese Witherspoon, Corey Stoll, Arnold Oceng, Ger Duany, Emmanuel Jal, Kuoth Wiel, and Sarah Baker.
• The cinematography in the African scenes is well done.
• It pulls at your emotional heart strings.

Fury

What I liked:

• Spot on casting by Lindsay Graham and Mary Vernieu.
• Brad Pitt still looks good.
• I was pleasantly surprised by Shia LaBeouf.  He should continue to pick roles like this and leave his Transformer days behind.
• Logan Lerman is fantastic.  He is very talented for being so young.
• Michael Pena and Jon Bernthal balance out the main cast.
• It also stars Jim Parrack, Bran William Henke, Kevin Vance, Jason Isaacs, Anamaria Marinca, Alicia von Rittberg and Scott Eastwood.
• The cinematography is beautiful even with it's difficult subject matter.
• The story is interesting, complicated, heart wrenching, and realistic. 
• The set design, hair/makeup, and costume design are authentic looking.

The Judge

What I liked:

• It has a solid cast: Robert Downey Jr., Robert Duvall, Vera Farmiga, Billy Bob Thornton, Vincent D'Onofrio, Jeremy Strong, Dax Shepard, Leighton Meester, Ken Howard, Balthazar Getty, David Krumholtz, Grace Zabriskie, Denis O'Hare, and Emma Tremblay.
• I liked seeing Shepard in a straight and narrow role.  
• Strong was impressive.

Alive Inside

What I liked:

• Music is a simple yet effective way to awaken people suffering from memory loss.
• "Music gives soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and life to everything." - Plato
• Start making your playlists now!

Men, Women & Children

What I liked:

• It tells the hard truth about dangers of social media/the internet from a variety of perspectives.
• Parents of young kids and teens should watch this to be aware of what is out there.  It will probably scare you.
• The characters are well written and developed.
• The cast is amazing: Jennifer Garner, Ansel Elgort, Kaitlyn Denver, Adam Sandler, Rosemarie DeWitt, Judy Greer, Dean Norris, Timothée Chalamet, Olivia Crocicchia, Elena Kampouris, Will Peltz, David Denman, Travis Tope, Dennis Haysbert, and J.K. Simmons.  Oh, and Emma Thompson's voice!
• Elgort has to get some Rising Star of the Year Award at some Awards show this year.   Between this and The Fault In Our Stars...this kid is going places.

The Sax Man

What I liked:

• It's a great little film about a part of Cleveland.
• It sheds light on a person that most people literally just walk by. 
• There are some great shots of Cleveland.
  

Gone Girl

What I liked:

• I liked that Gillian Flynn did the screenplay.  Since she wrote the book, she would know best how to adjust it to fit in a film.
• It was directed by David Fincher.
• Ben Affleck is solid.
• Rosamund Pike is fantastic.
• The supporting cast is all great: Neil Patrick Harris, Tyler Perry, Carrie Coon, Kim Dickens, Patrick Fugit, Missi Pyle, Casey Wilson, Lola Kirke, Boyd Holbrook and Sela Ward.
• Ward looks fantastic.

The Skeleton Twins

What I liked:

• Kristen Wiig and Bill Hader have so much chemistry together.  
• Hader is fantastic in what is more of a dramatic role for him.
• It also stars Boyd Holbrook, Ty Burrell, Luke Wilson and Joanna Gleason.

Pride

What I liked:

• It is an inspirational story that is well written and well told.
• It is based on a true story.
• The cast is wonderful: Ben Schnetzer, George MacKay, Monica Dolan, Andrew Scott, Joseph Gilgun, Faye Marsay, Freddie Fox, Chris Overton, Joshua Hill, Dominic West, Paddy Considine, Menna Trussler, Jessica Gunning, Imelda Stauton, Sophie Evans, Jack Baggs, Russell Tovey, and Bill Nighy.
• All of the set design, costume, and makeup are well done.
• It's funny, educational, and touching.

Tracks

What I liked:

• It's base on a true story.
• Mia Wasikowska is wonderful.
• Adam Driver lights up the screen whenever he is on.
• The cinematography is beautiful.