TRAVIS BYRAM'S MOVIE REVIEWS

Some films are simply critic proof. That is, no matter the reviews, some films audiences will just see because of the blockbuster urge, the completist sense of "Oh, I've seen these three movies in the franchise, gotta catch this sure to be classic fourth installment," or simply just a loyalty to the franchise (how else would you explain Die Hard 5 making a single cent?) can get these monster movies with uh, poor reviews to say the least, some solid cash. This seems to be the formula for the Transformers films, frequently cheap horror flicks, and, until Fantastic Four erupted into headlines as one of this year's biggest flops, the superhero genre.  That exception aside, some films just seem destined for big bucks, bad reviews or not. Franchises and event movies have eclipsed the modern movie star: except for Tom Cruise. Headlines of controversial behavior have damaged careers of Mel Gibson, Lindsay Lohan, etc. With Cruise's, um, unique religious beliefs and err...

Now that the unforgiving season of January is over, let's movie on to 2015. Now, some forewarning before you cheat and scroll down and see two very large absences from the list. Besides the 1977 original, I haven't seen any other Star Wars movie, and I also haven't seen Mel Gibson's Mad Max trilogy. I am very much looking forward to Force Awakens and Fury Road, because I plan on binging the whole series of both before they come out. It's just I'm looking forward to them right now, I'm not sure if my interest will diminish after what I hear are rough prequels. There are a few sequels on here, and they're all to movie franchises I've seen and greatly enjoyed. Without further ado, here are some picks that might surprise but hopefully there'll be at least one you'll research and want to scope out as well. AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON This list is alphabetical, but this my number one. I saw the Pinocchio themed teaser in The Battle of Five Armies , ...