Written by: Kevin Berge

It's that time of year. Christmas is approaching, and the kid's movies are flooding in. Some of the best films of the entire year are currently being released, which can make it hard to decide what is worth taking the time to see.

Disney and Sony recently released arguably the two best animated films of the entire year, and it's easy to say everyone should go and see both. They're really good, but it's time to get down to the nitty-gritty and decide which is better.

Quick Take: Ralph Breaks the Internet is a more complex and fascinating film than its predecessor, building off the foundations with a story that is important for all ages. This is the best Disney film in years, more reminiscent of Pixar in its depth.

Quick Take: Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse takes the Spider-Man filmography and turns it on its head, finally showing the depth and breadth of the franchise that was lost in repeated retellings of just the story of Peter Parker. It is the most complete and engaging Spider-Man film every made.

Written by: Kevin Berge

Quick Take: Creed II continues the legacy of the first film, relying on the foundations of the Rocky franchise but telling far more complex stories. With an understandable villain and a strong evolution of the montage formula, this movie proves that the simple joys of watching underdogs rise above all still works.

Written by: Kevin Berge

I watch way too many movies, and I still find myself struggling to keep up with the best of the best. Especially over the past few years where I've kept a list of all the movies I want to see only to end up getting to only half of them. That leaves me a massive backlog.

These next four films are all a part of that backlog. They are generally well regarded movies that intrigued me enough to give them a chance. I just wasn't immediately inclined to go out and see them when they first released.

The four movies I'll be covering here are the slow burn depressing drama Manchester By the Sea, the chess biopic Pawn Sacrifice, the midlife crisis drama Brad's Status, and the intense modern war film Lone Survivor.

None of the reviews will contain spoilers, focusing primarily on the quality of the films and their running themes.

Written by: Kevin Berge

Sometimes, reviewing movies is easy. You watch a great film, and you have a ton to say. Sometimes, reviewing movies is a complete mess. The film is so bad that you don't even want to give it recognition, but it is too popular not to at least discuss.

Recently, the latest movie in the Wizarding World franchise was released titled Fantastic Beasts: Crimes of Grindelwald. It is clearly the biggest movie in theaters right now. It is also a complete mess that everyone should avoid.

Therefore, I present this article not as much as a review for Crimes of Grindelwald but a showcase of potential alternatives you could be watching instead in theaters right now: the exciting thriller Widows, the intense drama Green Book, or the beautifully emotional biopic A Private War.

Written by: Kevin Berge

While I'm still not convinced of how it ranks among the last decade, 2018 has been a great year for films. While its outright successes have been fairly limited, the sheer amount of strong films for any fan have been staggering. Just keeping up can be exhausting.

In order to review them all in a reasonable amount of time, I have to lump together even some of the year's best films. This next crop of reviews focus on four movies that I enjoyed quite a bit but were not quite made for lengthy analysis.

This time around, I will be reviewing the Queen biopic Bohemian Rhapsody, the bizarre gory horror flick Suspiria, the dramatic biopic about Lee Israel Can You Ever Forgive Me?, and the family comedy celebrating adoption Instant Family.