295 – Nightcrawler (2014)

If you say the word “nightcrawler” to anyone invested in geek or nerd culture, the first image that will come to their mind is the smiling, furry blue face of the teleporting X-Man also known as Kurt Wagner. The more oligochaetological types mighty flash on earthworms, and some might even think of the Judas Priest song, but the protagonist in Dan Gilroy’s directorial debut Nightcrawler may just be more interesting than all of them. Yes, even more than the swashbuckling, elf-like mutant. I know! It’s hard to believe.

161 – Edge of Tomorrow (2014)

Tom Cruise. There was a time where starting a written piece with those two words (okay, names) would have guaranteed untold numbers of page views. It still might, but for completely different reasons. Cruise has become a ridiculed totem for his odd religion, often keeping his incredible talent from being recognized. Regardless of his personal life, Cruise is a huge star (otherwise why would we care about his personal life?) – one who has reinvented himself numerous times over the course of his career. His latest vehicle, Edge of Tomorrow, is about just that: necessitated reinvention. It is a very entertaining action film, but it also takes a look at the trajectory Cruise has followed thus far.

137 – Million Dollar Arm (2014)

In the latest inspirational sports movie from Disney, a somewhat closed-minded sports agent (Jon Hamm) travels to India in search of a golden goose in the form of a couple Indian athletes (Madhur Mittal and Suraj Sharma) he hopes to convert into baseball players. The movie has received mixed reviews, many of which criticize the movie for its glorification of a white savior archetype. This is always a distressing direction for a film, and while I agree that there are aspects of this in Million Dollar Arm, the picture’s big problem is something else entirely.