THE JUNGLE BOOK (Pictured) MOWGLI and BALOO. ©2016 Disney Enterprises, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Typically I wouldn’t voluntarily go see a PG Disney movie in the theaters, but it was well publicized that the visuals of this film are revolutionary in the likes of Jurassic Park and Gravity, so I decided I needed to see it for myself.   And I’d have to agree that The Jungle Book looks exemplary, including the 3D. I usually find the gimmick too distracting and not worth it, but it works great here. On top of that, it’s just a very solid movie (full disclosure, I’m assuming I’ve seen the 1967 original before, but I honestly have no recollection of it).

They really knocked the voice casting out of the park with this one. Idris Elba is especially menacing as the tiger Shere Khan and Christopher Walken puts a mob boss twist on King Louie that will remind you of his famous scene in True Romance (my favorite movie of all time). Scarlett Johansson, Ben Kingsley, Bill Murray, and Lupita Nyong’o round out that cast. If you’re stuck taking your 10 year old nephew to the movies, you’re much better off seeing this instead of Barbershop 3.  Tier 3

Early front runner for movie I’m most embarrassed to have on this list. I’m not usually big on Oscar bait period piece romances, but I don’t know, it’s just a really well done flick.   Good cast. Whoever helps Domhnall (pronounced “punching bag”) Gleason pick his films is on fire right now. Each of his four 2015 movies were Oscar nominated.  Tier 4

 Refresher:  I take every movie I’ve seen this year that range from great to “meh, entertaining enough” and split them up evenly within 6 tiers, rather than a straight up 1,2,3 ranking.  Additions to the April update were 10 Cloverfield Lane, James White, Batman v Superman (hatewatch), Pee-wee’s Big Holiday, and Vacation.  You can see spoiler-free blurbs on each of these below.  Keep in mind that Q1 is generally the weakest quarter in terms of quality of movies released, so it’s likely that a lot of these will drop down a tier or two later in year.

A couple movies that did not make this list were Carol and Trumbo.  I gotta stop thinking I need to see something that I never would have messed with otherwise just because it was Oscar nominated.  I understand the artistic accomplishments of Carol, but I’m just not about that life.

Much to the chagrin of my Mom, growing up Follin meant you were well versed in Pee-wee Herman.  Not only did my Dad have the VHS of “Pee-wee’s Big Adventure,” but he also had recorded tapes filled with the WAY before it’s time “Pee-wee’s Playhouse,” and I just watched these tapes over and over again as a kid (along with Who’s Harry Crumb, The Karate Kid, and Raising Arizona).   It’s hard to say if I would be as mesmerized by Big Adventure if I saw it for the first time today, but regardless I can’t turn it off if I come across it on cable. My crush on Dottie has proved eternal and Large Marge still scares the shit out of me.

Predictably, Big Holiday falls well short of Big Adventure’s hi jinx and heart, but it’s still worth seeing if you aren’t too high brow for Pee-wee’s humor (I know he’s not for everyone).  There’s a two minute scene simply involving Pee-wee and a balloon that might be the funniest thing I’ve seen all year.  Streaming on Netflix.  Tier 6

No, this is not a biopic of that James White, the 5th runner up of the 2013 NBA Slam Dunk Contest, former Cincinnati Bearcat, and high school teammate of College Park playground legend Willie “I bet you don’t meet a lot of white guys named Willie” Hopkins.  James White is a film about a degenerate, self medicating 20-something going through a rough patch in New York City.  It’s not a feel good movie by any means but it is extremely well acted, most notably the titular character played by Christopher Abbott, who appears in close to 100% of the frames and much of which are two feet in front of his face.

You may remember Abbott as a minor character on the first two or three seasons of Girls, before he famously quit the show because of creative differences with Lena Dunham.  Twitter picked on him for about a day once that news broke (“who does he think he is”, etc..), but the range he displays in this movie shows he may have been justified in going solo.  Oh, and Kid Cudi plays Abbott’s best friend, always a welcome presence. Tier 4

A lot has been said about how hard The Revenant was to make, but I think the hardest movie to make these days is a straight up comedy.  I tried thinking of a list of the great comedies of the past couple years and I could only name a few off the top of my head (shout out to Neighbors).  Maybe all the best material has moved to TV, or maybe I’m just a curmudgeon.  Anyways, Vacation will not join that list of great comedies and it doesn’t hold a candle to the 1983 original, but I did laugh out loud at least 10 times so I thought it was worthy.  I’m glad WB kept up the vulgarity and raunchiness of the original, and didn’t try to make a toned down PG-13 version.  Currently on HBO.  Tier 6

I knew absolutely nothing about The Guest before seeing it in 2014.  Noticing it towards the top of a Grantland (RIP) writer’s year-end film list, I randomly decided to VOD it without any further research.  Being a trailer averse weirdo, I think this is the best way to go into any movie (to a certain extent, obviously most would want to know whether they are seeing The Rock punch bad guys or Carey Mulligan play a British housekeeper with a secret).  This especially rings true in The Guest’s case.  Some of the developments throughout the movie come so far out of left field that I legitimately cackled in delight.

So I won’t divulge much about the plot of this movie, but I will say the ambiance carries a perfect blend of Drive, Halloween, and The Terminator.  It features a great synthpop soundtrack, which is a device I’ve noticed many filmmakers using to “retro-up” their films and it almost always resonates with me.  Dan Stevens serves as the star, who I had never heard of before but apparently he’s an alum of “Downton Abbey,” or as I like to call it “The Show that Ruined Christmas” (long story).  Usually when I come across a movie that I’ve never even heard of it’s a bad sign, but The Guest was a clear exception, becoming my second favorite movie of 2014.  Streaming on Netflix.