Occasionally I review movies....

...just not much lately.  Here's a brief rundown of what I have seen this year, and thoughts.

Captain America:  The Winter Soldier

Loved it.  I will be forever glad Fantastic Four tanked so that Chris Evans got to do this instead of being locked into that shitstorm.  Great expansion on the character and on Scarlett Johansson's Black Widow, and the addition of Falcon is welcome.  Also didn't see Robert Redford being the de facto villain of the movie, so points for surprising me on that front.  This movie and Godzilla are battling for my favorite of the year.  9.0 out of 10.

(I realize I gave Godzilla an 8.5, but I said they are battling for my favorite.  I do feel that this is a better made movie.)

Noah

I'm still not entirely sure what to make of this movie, although I did enjoy it quite a bit.  Great visuals, and it expands the Noah section of the Bible into a decent movie, even if I didn't quite believe that he would be willing to murder his grandson (he doesn't, if you care).  Russell Crowe gives a solid performance, though I thought the movie's standout was Logan Lerman.  Also, the vegetarian thing was a bit much.  7.5 out of 10.

The Lego Movie

This movie was way better than it had any right to be as a quick cash-grab.  Hilarious voicework, great use of the Lego 'world' and a quick pace make this a very enjoyable animated feature.  Even the brief live action section fits the movie well, and it is hard to criticize something so guilelessly entertaining.  8.0 out of 10.

Oculus

This movie wanted to be good.  It tried really hard.  However, apparently it was decided that 'just okay' was all they really wanted to shoot for, and we are left with a disappointing collection of ideas surrounding a ridiculous premise that almost works.  I had misgivings about a killer mirror movie, but the script here sets up the MacGuffin quite well and plays around with how malleable memory can be, but ultimately disappoints and fails to explore this plotline as fully as it could.  Not only that, but they failed to shore up other issues in the script that ultimately hurt the movie (How does the main character track down the mirror?  Why would they incarcerate a child for 10 years for killing his father when the father had obviously just murdered their mother and tried to murder them?)  The movie ultimately fails, but it is an interesting failure.  5.0 out of 10.