Of the five films nominated for last year’s Best Foreign Language Film Academy Award Wild Tales has slowly but surely become my favorite of the bunch. Sony’s Blu-ray presentation is superb, and interested viewers are urged to pick this disc up as soon as they can.

But the joy and the fun found inside of Empire of the Ants is undeniable, the unabashed whacked-out silliness of it all making it one of director Bert I. Gordon’s “better” (and I use that word loosely) cinematic achievements.

What else happens? Tons of activity, consternation, lip gloss primping, accusations, recriminations and looks of astonishment, but actually very little of substance as far as the main plot points established way back when in the very first season are concerned. It’s all foreplay…

As I get older, my love for The Last Unicorn only seems to grow.

Thank Your Lucky Stars might not be a great musical, but that doesn’t make it any less wonderful, and as an old Hollywood artifact of a bygone era of big screen entertainment that’s disappeared forever it’s a fantastically fun smorgasbord of silliness worthy of celebration.

Far more cerebral than you initially expect it to be, this intimate, claustrophobic thriller takes its time to explode into the expected violence and mayhem involving the titular creatures, and as such becomes far more meaningful, and memorable, than it otherwise would have been had the filmmaker chosen a different path.

Jupiter Ascending is still a mess, and I can’t say I was as enthralled watching it at home as I was sitting inside the movie theater back in February. Same time, the film’s strengths in my opinion do outweigh the weaknesses, and I’m very curious what I’ll think of it when I revisit it again sometime in the next few years.

McFarland, USA is still one of the better films I’ve seen in all of 2015. Disney’s Blu-ray release is a strong one, lack of extensive extras notwithstanding, and family audiences wondering if they should add this to their respective libraries should do so as quickly as they can.

I gave Focus a second chance mainly on the strength of the first half and because the two leads have such sensational chemistry. Sad to say, I was just as disappointed this time as I was when I originally watched it in the theater. The second half just isn’t very good, building to an unbelievable and unappealing climax that wastes the talents of all involved. Pity.