2015 MOVIE LIST -- The Top 200 So Far

THE STANDOUTS (20) - This should go without saying, but these are all must-sees.

Spotlight ****
Wild Tales **** 
Straight Outta Compton ***1/2 
Sicario ***1/2 
The Revenant ***1/2
Demolition ***1/2 
Room ***1/2  
Me and Earl and the Dying Girl ***1/2
The End of the Tour ***1/2
The Stanford Prison Experiment ***
The Martian ***
The Walk ***
Steve Jobs ***
Creed *** 
Joy *** 
Inside Out ***  
The Tribe ***
Bridge of Spies ***
Son of Saul ***
Thought Crimes: The Case of the Cannibal Cop (HBO) ***  

THE GOOD (48) - These represent quality filmmaking all-around.

Everest ***
Love and Mercy ***
Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation ***
Mad Max: Fury Road ***
Ex Machina *** 
McFarland, USA ***
The Gift ***
Cop Car *** 
The Visit ***
The Connection *** 
Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck (HBO) *** 
Cartel Land ***  
The Seven Five *** 
Infinitely Polar Bear ***
Tangerine ***
Diary of a Teenage Girl *** 
Trainwreck ***  
Spy ***
Ant-Man ***
Kingsman: The Secret Service ***
Green Room ***   
The Night Before *** 
The Bronze ***
The 33 ***
The Benefactor ***
Grandma *** 
Truth *** 
Victoria ***  
Dope *** 
What We Do In the Shadows *** 
Son of a Gun ***  
Faults ***
Creep *** 
Hyena *** 
Maggie *** 
Vacation ***   
Manson Family Vacation ***
Life in Color *** 
Goodnight Mommy **1/2
Shelter **1/2
Two Step **1/2 
James White **1/2
Sleeping With Other People **1/2
Digging for Fire **1/2
Cut Bank **1/2 
An Honest Liar **1/2
Bloodsucking Bastards **1/2
Drunk Stoned Brilliant Dead: The Story of the National Lampoon **1/2

THE GOOD... BUT SHOULD'VE BEEN BETTERS (32) - Why weren't these good movies better? I don't really know. But they should've been. Hence, the name of this section.

The Hateful Eight ***
Chappie *** 
Going Clear (HBO) *** 
Beasts of No Nation ***
Concussion *** 
Black Mass **1/2
Pawn Sacrifice **1/2
Southpaw **1/2
Star Wars: The Force Awakens **1/2  
Black Sea **1/2 
The Overnight **1/2
Minions **1/2
Trumbo **1/2
Eye in the Sky **1/2
Desierto **1/2
Hungry Hearts **1/2
Carol **1/2 
The Witch **1/2
Focus **1/2 
Irrational Man **1/2
Results **1/2
Buzzard **1/2  
Fort Tilden **1/2 
Road Hard **1/2
The Peanuts Movie **1/2
Goosebumps **1/2
Kill Your Friends **1/2  
Veteran **1/2 
Finders Keepers **1/2
Misery Loves Comedy **1/2
Being Evel **1/2
Cronies **1/2

THE GUILTY PLEASURES (38) - These are movies that I shouldn't like but I do, for one reason or another. I only feel ashamed because the Internet tells me I'm supposed to.

Hardcore ***
Run All Night ***
The Man From U.N.C.L.E. ***
Furious 7 ***
No Escape ***
Daddy's Home ***
Entourage ***
The Boy Next Door ***
The Green Inferno ***
Roar ***
Everly **1/2
The Intern **1/2
Poltergeist **1/2
The Devil's Candy **1/2
Unfriended **1/2 
Staten Island Summer **1/2
Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse **1/2  
American Ultra **1/2  
Magic Mike XXL **1/2
Ted 2 **1/2
Krampus **1/2 
Get Hard **1/2 
The Wedding Ringer **1/2 
Burying the Ex **1/2
Sisters **1/2
Terminator Genisys **  
San Andreas **   
Taken 3 **
Hitman: Agent 47 **
Fifty Shades of Grey **
Hidden ** 
Balls Out **
American Heist **
The Final Girls **
Final Girl **
Beyond the Reach ** 
Turbo Kid **
The Human Centipede 3: Final Sequence **

THE UNDERWHELMING DISAPPOINTMENTS (42) - Chalk it up to expectations but these movies just didn't cut it for me.

The Big Short **1/2
Anomalisa **1/2
Legend **1/2 
Our Brand is Crisis **1/2
I Smile Back **1/2
The Secret In Their Eyes **1/2 
Mississippi Grind **1/2
Z for Zachariah **1/2
Knock Knock ** 
Spectre **
Tiger House **
By the Sea ** 
Point Break **  
The Wolfpack ** 
Bone Tomahawk ** 
The Danish Girl ** 
Experimenter **
In the Heart of the Sea ** 
Ricki and the Flash ** 
Pixels ** 
We Are Your Friends **
Manglehorn **  
The Program ** 
Mr. Holmes ** 
Macbeth **   
Strangerland **
Mistress America ** 
I Am Michael **
Take Me to the River **
The Family Fang **
Project Almanac ** 
Tomorrowland ** 
Avengers: Age of Ultron ** 
Unfinished Business **
Pitch Perfect 2 ** 
The Girl in the Photographs **
The Mind's Eye **
Baskin **
Southbound **
The Gallows ** 
Martyrs **
The Lazarus Effect **

THE BAD (20) - For better or worse, I just don't know what these movies were thinking.

Rock the Kasbah *1/2  
Crimson Peak *1/2
Blackhat *1/2 
Lost River *1/2
True Story *1/2
Child 44 *1/2
The Gunman *1/2
Fantastic Four *1/2 
Hot Tub Time Machine 2 *1/2
High-Rise * 
Mojave * 
Dark Places *
The Hallow * 
Kristy *  
The Loft *
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2 *
Kidnapping Mr. Heineken * 
The Nightmare *
Preservation *
Hellions *

NOTABLE MOVIES I MISSED IN 2015 THAT ARE COMING SOON, I SWEAR (34): 45 Years, Alleluia, Aloha, Appropriate Behavior, The Assassin, Best of Enemies, Brooklyn, Burnt, Chi-Raq, Cinderella, The D Train, The Duke of Burgundy, Eden, Escobar: Paradise Lost, The Falling, Felt, Freeheld, Girlhood, The Good Dinosaur, Heaven Knows What, I'll See You in My Dreams, Kumiko the Treasure Hunter, Meadowland, Mommy, Mustang, Nasty Baby, Phoenix, Slow West, Soaked in Bleach, Spring, Suffragette, Time Out of Mind, White God, Youth

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Jeff Sneider, Nikki Finke Team on Hollywood Website/Podcast The FinSneider

Somewhere in California (April 1, 2015) ­- Veteran entertainment reporters Jeff Sneider and Nikki Finke proudly announced today that they are teaming with "Shark Tank" star Mark Cuban to launch The FinSneider, a new multimedia venture that will include a breaking news website and a unique podcast featuring sharp analysis from two of Hollywood’s loudest mouths.

“People think my relationship with Nikki is this black-and-white thing, but it’s really fifty shades of grey. I'm thrilled to partner with her and I look forward to our verbal sparring sessions as we match wits on the podcast, even if she’s going to connect via Skype,” Sneider said over a plain, well-done hamburger and his third Shirley Temple.

“I toldja! Jeff Sneider wasn't my first choice, or even my twelfth, but he's like a fungus -- he just kind of grows on you,” Finke said from an undisclosed location inside a volcano while stroking her rare white cat Mrs. Bigglesworth like a Bond villain. "He made me an offer I couldn't refuse, and believe me, I tried."

"We're two big personalities, so obviously negotiations were intense, but once Nikki agreed to let me  scoop her on the announcement and put myself first in this press release, I knew it was meant to be," said Sneider. "There was just one catch: she said I'd need to find her a new billionaire to finance the site, and I only knew one way to do that now that I unfriended Robert Durst on Facebook -- 'Shark Tank.'"

With Finke’s blessing, Sneider pitched the idea for The FinSneider on an upcoming episode of ABC's hit reality series, which is expected to air this summer. The ink-stained duo secured a modest financial commitment from Hollywood impresario Cuban in exchange for a minority stake in The FinSneider.

"I wasn’t surprised when Mr. Wonderful bowed out first because Nikki mentioned something about a bad date they had in the ‘80s. From the start, we went in hoping Mark would make an offer because he has Hollywood ties and he thinks outside the box, so we knew he’d understand our shared vision," explained Sneider.

On the show, Cuban described the chance to invest in The FinSneider as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that outranked winning a NBA championship and selling Broadcast.com to Yahoo! for $5.7 billion.

"Imagine Nikki as Demi Moore in 'Ghost' and me as Patrick Swayze, which should be easy given our strong jaw lines. The FinSneider is like a slab of raw clay on a pottery wheel, and we’ve been slowly shaping it together," said Sneider while trying to keep a straight face.

"I would dispute that characterization," added Finke. "The podcast will simply allow me to engage my 260,000 Twitter followers, who I affectionately refer to as Finkies, in a meaningful conversation without ever having to leave the comfort of my home. Ever."

The first guest on The FinSneider podcast will be Bret Easton Ellis, who was eager to help Finke launch the new endeavor, noting that he wrote “American Psycho” as an homage to the feared blogger. "I want to make sure the ratings for her first episode won't be less than zero," said the provocative bestselling author.

Sneider brings experience hosting a must-listen podcast thanks to “Meet the Movie Press,” a show he has repeatedly tried and failed to persuade Finke to do. “I remember inviting her on a few times and she said, ‘You want me to talk about Marvel shit for an hour? I don’t do geek.’ Things just developed from there based on a mutual disdain for authority and a shared love of Milano cookies,” recalled Sneider.

Finke is the founder and editor-in-chief emeritus of Deadline Hollywood who served as the inspiration for an unaired HBO pilot starring Diane Keaton, while Sneider is a small-fry film writer who has been fired from Variety twice and spends his days complaining about exclusives on Twitter.

Finke has written for the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, Associated Press, Newsweek, Vanity Fair, New York Observer, Premiere, Harper's Bazaar, Elle, Esquire and Los Angeles magazine. Sneider has written for none of those places.

Peter Parker is expected to serve as The FinSneider's official photographer, and additional details regarding the venture will be revealed on Wednesday at 12 p.m. PDT.

Nikki Finke will be available for (phone) interviews upon request. For media inquiries, please contact Entourage PR's Shauna Roberts at 481-516-2342.