(This review is split into two halves. The first section is spoiler-free. Then, below, I will delve into some specifics for those who have seen the film)

SPECTRE is a continuation of the look, feel, and character-centric storytelling present in Skyfall, and on that level, it is a roaring success. Everything from the stunts to the cinematography to the editing to the set pieces are terrific, some of the very best in the series. Despite its 2 hour and 30 minute runtime (long even for a franchise that is notorious for 2-hour-plus entries), SPECTRE flies by, never feeling like it’s wasting your time.

But before we start talking in-depth about all that SPECTRE does right, the elephant in the room needs to be acknowledged: yes, SPECTRE has some narrative issues. As I’ll go into further below in my “Spoiler” section, quite a number of story elements don’t hold up to scrutiny. It’s not difficult to pick SPECTRE apart, as one plot hole or illogical plot string just leads to another, and soon the whole thing is unraveling like a ball of yarn. It can really make you wonder if the screenwriters were paying any attention to these issues at all.

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(Anomalisa is unreleased and does not yet have an official release date. Therefore, this review will remain light on story details and spoilers)

Anomalisa, the first film written and directed by Charlie Kaufman since Synecdoche, New York seven years ago, is a brilliant and wholly unique piece of work. Co-directed by Moral Orel animator Duke Johnson, Anomalisa tells the story of Michael Stone (David Thewlis), a businessman who suffers from a mental disorder which makes him see everybody else outside of himself as the same person. The rarely-mentioned illness gives a narrative reason for the movie’s presentation, in which all men and women share the same face and voice.

However, the framework also serves to visualize the feeling of boredom and over-familiarity that tends to come with age. As the film progresses and we follow Michael through beautifully detailed yet somehow depressing locations and witness the repetition of various thoughts and ideas (including some hilarious asides about the Minneapolis Zoo, which is apparently “zoo-sized”), we empathize with him, sharing the feeling that everything and everyplace is inherently the same. When he begins seeking out somebody special, whether it be an ex or a local fling, we understand what he’s striving for on a human level.

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The most exciting thing about The Martian is how confident it is about NOT being exciting. Despite kicking off the story with a literally otherworldly sandstorm, screenwriter Drew Goddard and director Ridley Scott spend the majority of the film’s 2 hour and 22 minute runtime focusing on several very smart individuals trying to solve a problem. And yet, The Martian is consistently engaging throughout, one of the most entertaining films of the year. It’s been making a killing at the box office, and should be the popular choice for “Best Picture” come Oscar season.

Part of the film’s entertainment value comes from the characters. Matt Damon, in particular, is excellent here as astronaut Mark Watney, exuding an every-man charm that makes him likable even to audiences with no scientific predilections. He’s simultaneously self-deprecating and extremely confident, and his excitement at the prospect of technically colonizing Mars, or being a space pirate due to the definition of maritime law, is endearing. The script gives him moments of vulnerability, when the odds of survival are significantly against his favor, but his immediate inclination to tackle problems head-on means that he never comes off as a victim. The audience WANTS to see him survive, which ups the stakes for the whole movie.

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3D animated films are a huge box office draw, but nearly all of them originate from one of three studios: Disney/Pixar, Dreamworks Animation, and Illumination. So when an animated film comes out unaffiliated with any of the big three and gets essentially buried in the marketplace with no real promotion, it’s a bit worrisome. The Book of Life, which was produced by Guillermo del Toro, was such a film, barely promoted online and nearly non-existent  in theaters. While far from perfect, it’s a shame that such a creative and culturally relevant piece of entertainment fell by the wayside due to the extreme capitalism of the studio system.

Watching The Book of Life, it is immediately apparent that writer/director Jorge R. Gutierrez and his team did not have the kind of budget that Disney, Dreamworks, and Universal have to throw into their pictures. Characters and textures in the real-world intro are simplistic and awkward, looking inferior to some CalArts student projects. However, once the film transitions into Mexican folklore, the technical shortcomings give way to a brilliant, Mexican-art inspired creative design. Because the whole story is being told to children using wooden dolls, the characters themselves are blocky and made of wood. Meanwhile, the world around them is full of life and color, especially once protagonist Manolo crosses over to the Land of the Remembered.

In addition to the stylistic influences, the film’s affinity for Mexican folklore is downright refreshing. The Book of Life feels like it was crafted by storytellers who grew up with such stories, loved them, and wanted to share them with an international audience. While framed as a story for children, it also works as an introduction to the hallmarks of Mexican culture for culturally unaware adults. At the very least, it serves as an appealing and unique playground for animated storytelling. At its best, it’s enlightening and educational while remaining fun.

The culture and artistic design are not the only things that make The Book of Life unique. It also appropriates popular music from multiple decades to incorporate into its story. This decision is slightly less successful. The most recent examples, such as Mumford & Sons’ “I Will Wait” and Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros’ “Home,” seem like trendy and relatively appropriate recent choices, but it can be strange when Manolo breaks into a rendition of Radiohead’s “Creep” (a clean version, anyway). There’s a certain novelty factor to hearing such songs performed in the style of traditional Mexican music, but it doesn’t lend much more to the film.

The story itself is largely serviceable, but works well as a vehicle for exploring different elements of the Mexican Day of the Dead. It involves a love triangle, a bet between different guardians of the afterlife, a quest into the lands of the dead to retrieve a loved one, and a climactic battle sequence. In a way, the arc of the journey feels more Greek than Mexican, but Mexican culture is so apparent in the details and look that it’s not a problem.

I would never argue that The Book of Life holds a candle to the Toy Story series, and it probably doesn’t compare favorably to the stronger Dreamworks Animation films like How to Train Your Dragon. However, it’s notable for being a gorgeous, unique foray into a culture that is too often ignored in popular stories, whether they be fairy tales, fantasy stories, or animated films.

Last week, I reviewed a modern fairy tale movie called Winter’s Tale. It was not very good. After we watched Colin Ferrell and his Pegasus become stars together, my fiancee urged me to watch another modern fairy tale movie called Stardust. This one, she assured me, was much better, and given its pedigree, I had no reason to doubt her. The film is based off of a book by Neil Gaiman, one of the greatest authors of modern fantasy and fairy tales working today, and directed by Matthew Vaughn, one of my favorite modern filmmakers. No matter the quality, watching a movie forged by such different artistic voices had interested me for some time.

So it’s perhaps no surprise that Stardust is a good movie. It’s got all the trappings of a fairy tale story: inanimate objects that are somehow alive, magic, other worlds, true love, etc. But unlike Winter’s Tale and other failed films in the genre, the rules of its universe feel somewhat intuitive and the character drama is earned. The tone and feel of the film is reminiscent of The Princess Bride. It’s a love story at its center, there are moments of danger and menace, but it’s generally a light-hearted adventure story.

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