Creed

Ever since I saw this movie last week, I've been bursting to talk about it! While I haven't come to the end of my Rocky retrospective quite yet (I'll get to Rocky V and Rocky Balboa soon), I just had to talk about the movie I've been wanting ever since the first trailer was released. Despite my enthusiasm going into this, I had to remind myself that Creed wasn't on my top 10 most anticipated films of the year when I wrote that list eleven months ago. In fact, it didn't even get a mention, which I still have a hard time fathoming... Anyway, I went in with fairly moderate expectations, pretty much just hoping for a decent follow-up to the Rocky series. What I got was so much more.

Rocky IV

FlashBack Friday is back again! There isn't much time to finish this Rocky series, (especially with a certain space movie coming out in about a month) so some of these reviews might not be released on Friday... just FYI. Still, I couldn't let myself not review this movie as it has all of the things that typify what people think about the Rocky series. For me, this was always my favorite one as a kid. Not only did it have the most intense fight scenes, but the villain was easily the most memorable of any opponent Rocky has faced. Though I may have seen Rocky III more times, Rocky IV was by far the best of the series to me as a kid. But how does that love hold up after all these years? SPOILER ALERT from here on out!

Spectre

Bond is back! If you haven't read my reviews of the previous Daniel Craig 007 movies, go check out the archives and see what I thought of them in detail. If you don't have time for that, I'll give you a brief history of my Bond fandom here. First off, Daniel Craig is my Bond. Ever since Casino Royale, I've been completely on board with this new iteration of the famous spy. Though I wasn't a huge fan of what happened in Quantum of Solace, I couldn't have been more in love with the last entry to the series, Skyfall. It took Bond to a whole other level with the action, the character development, the cinematography, and the evolution of the franchise embracing both old and new generations of Bond. As you can see in my top 10 most anticipated films of 2015, this was one of the films I was really looking forward to this year. With the name drop of Spectre, which I knew was the infamous terrorist organization that became Bond's biggest nemesis from the Sean Connery era, I had a feeling we were in for something really special.

The Peanuts Movie

Good grief, this is such a cute film! That's the most obvious take-away after seeing The Peanuts Movie, which I've personally been looking forward to ever since I saw this incredibly adorable teaser trailer over a year ago. The respectful style of animation that mimics the original art from Charles Schultz is such a wonderful melding of traditional artwork with modern CGI that I had a feeling this might be a great introduction to the Peanuts world for kids who may not have been exposed to it previously. Still, it's always a bit of a gamble when going into a revitalized property that was so nostalgic and beloved to so many. For every The Lego Movie there's an equal and opposite The Smurfs or Garfield that keeps us from getting completely on board with something like The Peanuts Movie. Thankfully for us, this is one of the good ones.

Goosebumps

Full disclosure - I am a former Goosebumps fanboy. As a kid, I used to drool over the latest Goosebumps book cover until I finally had an opportunity to get one from the book fair at my elementary school. I went so far as to write a fan letter to R.L. Stine, who sent back a very sweet form letter to all of his fans, with what I always hoped was his real signature at the bottom (though it was probably a stamp or something). It even inspired me to write my first novel back in fifth grade, brilliantly titled "The House That Threw Up"... though it was probably equally inspired by the Goosebumps parody series (that lasted all of two installments), Gooflumps. Yeah, that's really what it was called. Even those ridiculous books have a bit of nostalgia for me, but they were nothing compared to my love for the Goosebumps series. With all that in mind, I went into this film hoping for nothing but a fun time with a few childhood memories brought to life. And thankfully it more-or-less succeeded.