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The Oscar and film awards season has been a fun one this year, featuring one of the most intense Best Actor races of all time, but the sad thing is how many movies have disappointed. "Interstellar" was one huge supposed Oscar player that fell out of the race once people saw it, and the word right now is that Angelina Jolie's "Unbroken" won't be as big a player anymore. However, since about July there have been two movies that have stayed in the race, and at the front of the pack. The first being "Boyhood," a great contender for winning the Best Picture award, and the second is "Birdman." So when I entered the theater I was praying this movie would be all it was cracked up to be. Let's just say it didn't disappoint.

Michael Keaton - an actor who used to be well known for playing the superhero Batman, but has since fallen out of the spotlight- stars in this movie about a man named Riggan Thompson - an actor who used to be well known for playing the superhero Birdman, but has since fallen out of the spotlight. See the similarity? In this film, Riggan Thompson is coming up on the opening night of his Broadway play which he has written, directed, and starred in as an attempt to reclaim some of his fame. As the play, and his life, begin to fall apart days before the premiere, Riggan begins to learn the difference between who he was, who he is now, and who he decides he's going to be.

Though there is a strong sense of irony in having Michael Keaton play a washed up actor in this film, his performance makes you wonder why that irony was even possible in the first place. Keaton perfectly plays the comedy in his timing, the dramatic pressure in his actions, and the sad truths his character faces in his eyes. Keaton is thick in the pack of Best Actor contenders for the Oscars which is exactly where he belongs. Edward Norton leads the supporting cast of this film giving a performance that proves his incredible acting ability and makes us sad he turned down playing the Incredible Hulk in "Marvel's Avengers." Emma Stone, who typically sticks to sarcastic comedy roles, finds new ground here that we didn't even see in her dramatic breakout "The Help." Though I love Emma Stone, I've always been skeptical of her dramatic ability, but here I was surprised in the best way possible. Zach Galifianakis and Naomi Watts also head up the incredible balance of comedy and drama that was featured in this movie.

In this world, there are two types of art.

Let's say you walk into an art museum and see a Picasso. The colors are vibrant, the geometry is fascinating, and the techniques are entirely unique. People gather around this painting with you to marvel at the decisions this visionary artist made and the perfection created on the canvas. You tell yourself you're happy you got to see such a famed and outstanding piece of art, then you leave the building and hop in your car to go home. As you're driving home you flip on the radio to keep yourself from falling asleep. A song you've never heard before, but you really like, comes on and you start jamming all the way home. You get home and your friend is there. He asks you how your evening was, and you tell him all about the Picasso you got to see. Your friend is really interested so he hands you a pencil and a piece of paper and he tells you to sketch the Picasso for him. You look at him like he's silly, but he urges you, so you hesitantly pick up the pencil. That's when you realize that you can't remember exactly what it looked like, so you set the pencil down. Your friend then asks if you've heard any good music recently, so you tell him about the one you heard in the car. He asks you to hum it. Piece of cake.

"Birdman" is a great film. The actors are outstanding, the score made up of solo percussion is a genius idea, and the technique to make the film appear as a single take is not only successful but adds to the film as a whole. However, when the credits of this movie finish and you hear the last drum beat, the movie and everything about it comes to a complete end. This movie was hilarious, dramatic, and practically perfect in every technical way. "Birdman," was a Picasso. This movie was absolutely outstanding, but the only thing I was able to take away from it was a couple funny lines.

"Birdman," like a Picasso, was a technical masterpiece and the combination of that and how well reviewed it was resulted in me liking this movie without even thinking about it. Director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu made the choice to give "Birdman" an alternate title. That title is: "The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance." I think that fits perfectly.

I give "Birdman" an 8.5/10.

Whenever I watch movies on my own time, I typically like to pick ones that will help me prepare for the next film I will be seeing in theaters and reviewing for this column. Before "Fury" I watched some war movies, before "Lucy" I watched some action flicks, etc. I suppose I forgot to keep that in mind this week considering the three movies I watched most recently before "Big Hero 6" were "The Conjuring," "Interstellar," and "The Godfather: Part 1." So when an animated walking/talking inflatable white robot walked onto the screen, it was certainly a breath of fresh air.

"Big Hero 6" is advertised as and makes up the perfect movie to take your kids to this season. Focusing on an intelligent, inventive, 14-year-old prodigy name Hiro, "Big Hero 6" is a wonderful example of how heroes can come from anyone and anywhere. After losing a very close friend in an accident, Hiro and his newfound companion and best friend Baymax, a gentle healthcare robot who looks like what inflatable sofas are supposed to be, go on a search to try to figure out exactly what happened. By circumstance, they end up in the lair of an evil mastermind and, with the help of some friends, do their best to foil his evil plan while learning the importance of friendship along the way.

Young actor Ryan Potter provides the voice of Hiro, the hero of the story. His work was fine, nothing noticeable to criticize or give extra praise to, which is fitting with a lead character. The real credit for impressive voice work goes to Scott Adsit and his hilarious portrayal of the huggable robot Baymax. Even through an auto-tune-like filter, Adsit was able to give character lovable life. Many extra hilarious moments were given to us through Adsit's work, along with the very comical physical actions that were given to this talking balloon. T. J. Miller was another highlight of the film, as he was allowed to let loose with his character. Over the top at times, but overall very funny. James Cromwell, Jamie Chung, Damon Wayans Jr., Genesis Rodriguez, Maya Rudolph, Alan Tudyk, and Daniel Henney also lent their voices to the life of this film.

Between the two directors and three screenplay writers of this film, there are loved Disney credits such as "Monsters Inc." and "Monsters University," "Tarzan", "Cars," "Meet the Robinsons," "The Emperor's New Groove," and "Mulan," along with others. An excellent team was put together to make this film, and with a storyline and character ideas like these, it would have been a surprise if this film had not turned out well. What I didn't expect though, was that it would turn out this well. The story was excellent, the messages were brief but good, the characters were hilarious, a level of emotion was achieved, and the score was fun, exciting, and different. Everything about this film made for an excellent ride, perfect for kids, and a top choice for parents forced to see a "kid's movie."

There were certain moments and ideas that I wished had been embellished even more. One of my favorite parts of the film was the invention of San Fransokyo: an ingenious crossover between interesting Japanese culture and standard, relatable American culture. The idea for this semi-fictional city was perfect, though I felt like they almost went halfway with it. It appeared as though the final creation of it wasn't a clever combination of the cultures, but rather that they took American culture and made only major things like names and structures Japanese. This is no way reflected on the final result of the film, but it is an area I would have enjoyed a little more thought.

Directors Don Hall and Chris Williams did a particularly excellent job of making this film unique. They were given a very stereotypical storyline and they created a world and characters that succeeded in standing apart. Along with having the classic superhero versus supervillain plot, "Big Hero 6" also features the current favorite 'unlikely friendship' story. Back in 2010, Dreamworks and Dean Deblois came out with "How to Train Your Dragon," my personal favorite animated film and the 'unlikely friendship' idea created and perfected in an animated film. Hiro and Baymax provided extreme similarities to Hiccup and Toothless from "Dragon," even to the point of having a relationship-bonding flight sequence. "Big Hero 6" could have very easily been called a copy of "How to Train Your Dragon" had it been done wrong. Thankfully, this film was executed very well, and we have a result that sets itself apart from the formula animated film that is made so often.

There were few flaws in this movie, other than that it was too short. When the credits began to roll, I would have been more than content to remain in my seat for another thirty minutes. A collective contribution of excellent animation, fun story, great score, and quality voice work. In the end though, the best part was the marshmallow. So as I walked out of the theater, I couldn't wait for the sequel.

I give "Big Hero 6" an 8.2/10

Halloween night and, after returning from a very unfrightening costume party dressed as an even less frightening Santa Claus, I decided I wanted to be scared. So I hopped on the internet and found the popular 2013 horror flick "The Conjuring." Two hours later the movie finished and I was well into November first, flinching at every little sound I heard, and trying to fall asleep as my feet tingled in fear of being pulled from my bed. For anyone who has seen "The Conjuring," you know the exact feeling. Now I'm not a particular fan of horror films, they are extremely overdone and rarely well, but this one got to me. From my limited experience, "The Conjuring" is certainly the best horror movie I've seen. Then they went and made a prequel.

"Annabelle" is the prequel to the ever so successful and ever so creepy "The Conjuring." The premise of "Annabelle" is that one shot in "The Conjuring" where the same Annabelle doll turns her head and you wet your pants. The plot, however, is found in an average everyday couple and their newborn child. As a gift to celebrate the new baby's birth, the husband (I'm saying husband and wife because as soon as the movie finished I forgot their names) surprises the wife with a doll. After a traumatic incident where the neighbors are murdered by members of a satanic cult and the husband and wife are attacked, one of the attackers commits suicide with the doll in her hands. Some evil spirit then enters the doll, and the average happy family soon begin to experience the horrors of a demonic presence.

The happy couple, Mia and John Gordon (I just looked up their names on IMDb,) were played by Annabelle Wallis and Ward Horton, respectively. I was not impressed by either performance, as they were both very single noted. Ward Horton in particular had zero depth to his character making him entirely forgettable at the times even when he was not on screen. In "The Conjuring," one of the strongest things about the film was the performances. Patrick Wilson was fairly dull as well, but Vera Farminga and Lili Taylor gave the film a depth that really brought it to another level. This was nowhere to be found in "Annabelle." Alfre Woodard provided some interesting development and did save a couple scenes, but she was simply not allowed enough screen time to have any sort of effect on the final result of the film.

John Leonetti took the director's chair for "Annabelle," after being the head cinematographer for James Wan during filming of "The Conjuring." This is not the first time Leonetti has directed a sequel or prequel to a film he was head of photography. There is one consistency throughout his work though: the originals were fairly well received but when Leonetti was placed as director, the sequels were widely disliked. This is Leonetti's third film to direct, the first two were "Mortal Combat: Annihilation" and "The Butterfly Effect 2." It is a wonder to me that the prequel to "The Conjuring" was placed in such unreliable hands. However, it was, and "Annabelle" was the result.

As the previews finished and "Annabelle" began, I adjusted in my seat, bracing myself to be scared. Leonetti used a clever tool in beginning this film by using the same shots that began "The Conjuring." Unfortunately, after using up all these shots and displaying the title with a climactic musical swell, it went black. I was sure something was about to jump out and scare me. Instead, I looked up and I was in church. And a nice church too; very well lit. Church finishes and after a very lovely conversation with some friends, our average couple returned to their suburban California home with palm trees in the yard and the sun shining as bright as ever. At this point I almost began to wonder if I had sat down in the wrong theater. This continued for the rest of the film. There were different scenes where circumstances would climax and it would be fairly frightening, but seconds later it was morning again and the birds were chirping.

The thing that made "The Conjuring" work so well was the constant feeling that something awry was about to happen. It was the polar opposite here, where I found myself feeling like I was watching a pleasant drama rather than a horror film. It could be that was Leonetti's intent, to make you feel comfortable before he scares you, but it simply didn't work. In the end, the only credit for scares that got me go to the film's musical composer Joseph Bishara. Save some weak dialogue and performances, "Annabelle" was a decent film overall. It just wasn't scary. So as I walked out of theater, the doll never bothered me anyway.

I give "Annabelle" a 5.0/10.