For a long time—through around the late-90s to the mid-00s, to be exact—Disney was on a downward spiral creatively (just as Pixar was making a name for itself with fresh, fun adventures). And this after releasing about a decade worth of award-winning films, from The Little Mermaid to The Lion King and so on. It wasn’t until they released the warm and fuzzy Bolt, that it seemed like Disney could still deliver what people expected from them. Of course, this was about the same time they gave Pixar head-honcho John Lasseter the reins to all of Disney animation, and so far, his influence has led to some exceptionally triumphant films (the exception being Planes, which wasn’t bad, per se, but it didn’t meet the standards I expect from the Mouse house), This, of course, includes their newest release, Frozen, which would certainly do Walt Disney proud. Don’t Stop — There’s Plenty More!

When I first saw The Hunger Games last year, the books were extremely fresh in my mind, as I had read them only a few months before and was really excited to see how the filmmakers would interpret the story. It seems, though, that because my anticipation was so high, it’s easy to say that I was a little disappointed in the translation. The whole thing felt a bit too forced, the editing was choppy, and the story didn’t flow as easily as it should have. On second viewing, though, after stripping away the comparisons to the book and looking at it as its own entity, I found it to be a pretty solid film. I’m happy to say that with the sequel, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, I didn’t need a second viewing to come to that determination. Don’t Stop — There’s Plenty More

Movies without dialogue (or with minimal dialogue, for that matter) are a rare breed. To pull it off effectively, you need strong, charismatic actors who are able to engage the audience with nothing more than their body language. Tom Hanks pulled it off masterfully in Cast Away, as did Suraj Sharma in Life of Pi. Both actors carefully embedded their performances with subtle nuances that allowed us to know what they were feeling, what they were thinking, without saying a word. In the new film, All Is Lost, Robert Redford takes command of his stage and draws us in with the magnetic portrayal of a man fighting nature’s unforgiving wrath (as well as his own hidden demons). Don’t Stop — There’s Plenty More