Birdman (2014)

Rated: R - Runtime: 119 min
tesg's Rating: Four stars (out of four)

If you watched the trailer and think you're going to a superhero comeback movie, you may be in for a "bait-and-switch".  This is NOT a superhero movie.  At all.  This is a personal demon movie played out much like the "Prairie Home Companion" movie played.

And every bit of it is perfect.

Maybe not quite the end, but nearly enough so.

Nightcrawler (2014)

Rated: R - Runtime: 117 min
tesg's Rating: Three stars (out of four)

Jeepers.  What a creepy bastard.

Probably the best movie I've seen this year that I never ever want to see again.

John Wick (2014)

Rated: R - Runtime: 101 min
tesg's Rating: Two and one half stars (out of four)

After surprisingly opening with one of the most touching scenes in any movie I'll bother seeing this year, John Wick is a fantastically stylish killing machine of a movie for quite awhile.  And it would have been really great if they just kept it that way all the way through.  But no.  Not only do the bad guys NOT kill John Wick when they had the easy opportunity...they had to throw in the James Bond Villain-like standoff so perfectly parodied in the first Austin Powers movie.

Up until then, this was nearly as brilliant as Jason Statham's "Crank".

(If you haven't seen "Crank", you seriously need to.)