Holiday Movie Preview: A Dozen Movies to See in the Next Six Weeks

Brie Larson could look a little more excited to see these movies.

For the last several years my one New Year's resolution has been to see fifty-two movies released in that given year. That means catching up on older movies I haven't seen doesn't count, & I go off the Oscars' calendar, meaning movies like Selma & American Sniper that didn't have a wide release until this year still count as films from 2014 as they had already been released in Los Angeles. Those may seem like unnecessary hurdles, but if a resolution is easy what's the point? With six weeks to go in 2015 I've downed forty movies*, with that in mind this holiday movie preview will list the dozen movies I'm most excited for from today till the clock strikes twelve on January 1, 2016.

*Of those forty, four have clearly stood above the others. "Inside Out," Pixar's latest masterpiece, "The End of the Tour," a beautifully nuanced two man show between Jesse Eisenberg & Jason Segel, "It Follows," already one of my favorite horror movies, & "Ex Machina," a clever sci-fi thriller that was my introduction to the astounding Alicia Vikander as well as a reminder that Oscar Isaac is the best actor working today. All of these films can be found on DVD or some form of streaming.

A few notes about this list. All of the movies listed have yet to debut in Tucson, if you live in a larger city you may have already seen a couple of them. The list, also, only includes movies that will play in Tucson before the New Year, so The Revenant & The Hateful Eight didn't make the cut as their wide releases aren't until January 6. Lastly, if a film's release date includes the "limited" qualifier it means that unless you live in L.A. or New York you'll have to wait a little longer to see it, for Tucson you generally need to add two to four weeks, & if you don't live in a city you may not get the opportunity to see such films in theaters at all. As always, if you click on a film's title you can see its trailer. Now, without further ado...

The Emmy Preview–Comedy: Who Got Snubbed, Who Should/Will Win, & When You Should Drink

The Emmys, the preeminent awards in television, air Monday night at 8p ET / 5p PT* on NBC. Seth Meyers figures to be the best host since Jimmy Kimmel** two years ago if not Conan a whopping eight years ago, but I'm more interested in who will/should win, who got snubbed, & how best to work drinking into the ceremony, so that's where my focus will be. You can read my thoughts on the nominations here, now though let me begin our journey by looking at the comedy categories.

*So for any timezone challenged Arizonans that's 5pm here.
**I like NPH plenty but I'll always take an actual comedian over a song & dance guy. 

Can Orange Is the New Black become the first TV show not on television to win an Outstanding Series award?