I really do not appreciate Spielberg's vision of heartfelt. Thankfully, there is very little of that in this movie and his version of giant spectacle is amazing. The pyrotechnics and action are incredible and I couldn't tell where reality ended and CG began.
I was really surprised at the quality in "Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials". I fully expected it to just exude cheap, but the effects and action sequences were fun, with the exception of some lame CG creatures in one scene. I'm not entirely sold on the young actors, but the more established ones were great.
"The Iron Claw" is such a well done docudrama that actually tells a meaningful story, where the actors all fully embraced their roles and it is so hard to find anything negative to say about it other than that it falls into all of the pitfalls of a docudrama. The actors are given almost no opportunity to really play out scenes, because the movie needs to move quickly to the next major event, continually. If you took everything about this movie, but added good dialog to beef up the story into 6 hour-long segments, it would have been perfect.
"The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar" was so beautiful. The movie is basically read to you as a book with the actors standing still, while the sets dance around them. It sounds incredibly boring, but I was mesmerized.
I am grading this just for the nonstop choreography. I can't imagine what it took to plan this out. If nothing else, it is fun to try to figure out where the cuts are and how in the world they got the camera to move the way it does.
"Next Goal Wins" might be my favorite non super hero Taika Waititi film. The first hour is a very fun ride, but the end seemed to have trouble finding its footing. As with all of Waititi movies, the scenery and camera work are beautiful with excellent performances from people I have never heard of.
Once upon a time I considered "The Fifth Element" to be my favorite movie, but after 25 years, I can see the shortcomings. There are scenes where Besson swung for the fences, but only hit a double. I love how he blended so many different emotions.
I am such a big fan of Sorkin, but I just did not connect with "Being the Ricardos". Everything just felt so artificial. JK Simmons was the only actor who drew me in, and he had a pretty small role. It seems like it all should have made for a terrific movie plot, but it just didn't gel.
There were so many moments in this movie that made me gasp with relief at the resolution of tension. Just a really exhilarating roller coaster ride with a Hollywood ending, but yet it is true life.
Much like "Minority Report", this movie works in spite of Spielberg's direction. Once you get past the first 15 minutes, it turns into a total roller coaster ride, with barely any dialog to carry the next hour and a half. Despite the thrill ride along the way, The ending is a bit of a let down, but that is keeping in tradition of the source material. My biggest complaint is the over reliance on CGI. Sure, technology has come a long way since "Jurassic Park", but it still doesn't look as good as the practical effects of "Raiders of the Lost Ark".
I cannot believe the cast they pulled together for this movie, but even with all of this A-List comedy star power, I still only got a handful of laughs out of this movie. It isn't bad, I just wanted it to be so much better.
I strongly feel that the people involved in the making of this movie have no idea what the point of movies is. People see movies to be entertained, sometimes even to be educated or enlightened. This movie did none of these and these people should go directly to movie jail, where they can make no more big budget movies until they can prove their worth making low budget fair.
Watching this movie it occurred to me why there are so few movies that center around firemen, and that is because this movie is perfect. No one will ever make a better fireman movie. Acting, soundtrack, effects, plot. It is all there. Back when ILM meant something.
So, I'm pretty sure the only reason "Elvis" exists is because a producer watched "Rocketman" and thought that Baz Lehrman would be perfect to replicate that dreamlike frenzy. Whatever "Elvis" started off as in someone's mind, the end result is a total dumpster fire. It looks like it was shot as a completely traditional music bio-pic, and then had a bunch of zany chyrons plastered on top of it to try to give the impression that creativity was put into this mess. Where "Rocketman" had exquisitely choregraphed music segments, "Elvis" just shows a performer on stage and rapidly scans the camera around the audience to attempt to give the impression of excitement. It would be one thing if the camera was steady and just tried to show a concert ala "Bohemian Rhapsody", but "Elvis" seems like it really wants you to think there is some elevated concept happening on top of the action, but all that is happening is that the camera is panning around quickly, with no notable choreography. If you want a by the numbers music bio-pic, "Bohemian Rhapsody" will meet your needs better, but for the far superior dream-like experience, stick with "Rocketman".
Just so good. This movie is a total amusement park ride in all the best ways. I watched it in high frame rate 3D, and thought it was fantastic. I don't know that I want any other movie presented this way, but I think it was a perfect choice here. I felt that the original "Avatar" did a better job of establishing an emotional connection between the characters, but this one gives the audience so many awe inspiring scenes where you can soak up the beauty of the world. Cameron shows he is still in a class all to himself, and I can't wait for more.
With “The Suicide Squad “, James Gunn took what the previous movies in the franchise were trying to do and he finally succeeded at it. Sort of a hard R "Guardians of the Galaxy".
“The Big Year” is a very well put together movie that includes one of the most star studded casts I have ever seen, but it is all presented in a way that I cared absolutely nothing about. I really appreciated the moral of the story, but the way it was told was just not fun enough, especially given the high caliber of actors they had at their disposal. I swear they must have hired all of these actors on the premise that they were going to shoot the ultimate comedy, but the screenwriter got a different memo and delivered a totally dry after school special.
There are too many drawn out, unnecessary scenes, but there is still a fun time in “Spider-man: No Way Home”. To me the most amazing thing was the legal contract wrangling that must have occurred to get all of those actors to show up, but I do want to give kudos to the writers who didn't drop the ball and delivered a satisfying story amidst all the chaos of bringing 20 years worth of characters together.
I feel like I can see a future genius honing his craft. This movie has so much potential, but that something special about Tim Burton's best movies is just missing.
"10 things I Hate about You" is a really fun movie. Good plot, interesting scenery, fun gags. It definitely feels like it borrows from other films around this era, but it all comes together well. I give it an A, make a point to go see this movie.
The handful of times "Black Widow" tried to be funny, it worked. A couple of the action sequences weren't bad. Most of the time, though, it was just insufferable. I give it a D, just don’t bother.
I think I may hate "Cruella", but not because it is a terrible film. I actually enjoyed watching it, but it feels like a tremendous missed opportunity. The cast is perfect. This may be the role Emma Stone was born to play. The wardrobes are gorgeous. It feels like they filmed a run of the mill Disney live action adaptation, but discovered it was so boring that they shelled out for the most expensive licensed soundtrack ever and tried to shoehorn the movie into basically being a 2 hour long music video, which conceptually would have been terrific, but because the movie wasn't shot to the beat of the music, nothing goes together quite right.
Good on them for coming up with a story that didn't feel too pandering. Props to the CGI team. The computer generated animals and sets did not take me out of the moment. This could have been a movie that I re-watch over and over, but instead, all it achieves is a barely passing grade. I give it a C, if you've already seen the best, but you insist on watching a movie, try this one out.
The first 2 hours of "No Time to Die" are really great. I loved the constant plot turns, and the action was solid. The last act, though, kind of fell apart. There are good ideas there, but they just didn't come together in a meaningful way. It wasn't unwatchably bad. It just didn't live up to the beginning of the movie. I haven't seen all the Craig bond films, but what I have seen, this is easily the best one, other than "Casino Royale", which remains my favorite of all the Bond films. I give it a B, next time you’re in the mood for a movie, this one won’t disappoint.
"Carrie" really redeems itself in the last act. I didn't hate it up until that point, in fact it was quite amusing at times, but it just wasn't clicking with me. I think it would have been unwatchable if it weren't for DePalma's direction. That guy knows how to make magic out of the simplest scene. I totally get why this movie is still brought up in conversations over 40 years after it was originally released. I give it a C, if you've already seen the best, but you insist on watching a movie, try this one out.
I really get a kick out of "Army of Darkness", but I don't expect most folks to really enjoy it. You have to go in being fully aware of how it leans into its low budget. For some reason, all of the reasons that I really dislike just about every other Sam Raimi movie, proves to be a reason why I like this movie so much. I give it a C, if you've already seen the best, but you insist on watching a movie, try this one out.
I have a real soft spot in my heart for "Fright Night". When I was a teen I absolutely adored vampire movies, and this one just really surprised me as a teen with its self aware take on the genre. Now a days I can see the flaws with a few long sections where the plot really slows down, but there were some really nice creature effects for the era. If you really like vampire tales, you might find something to enjoy here, but I admit that the movie is not going to be a winner for everyone. I give it a C, if you've already seen the best, but you insist on watching a movie, try this one out.
I don't know of any movie that romanticizes vampires better than "The Lost Boys". It just oozes cool out of every scene. The music is so fitting, the plot keeps you guessing, and there are so many laugh out loud funny moments. The early scenes hide a lot, which was probably a cost cutting measure, but it allows the movie to build in intensity as it goes, giving those final moments a tremendous wow factor. I give it an A, make a point to go see this movie.
I absolutely love "The Transformers: The Movie". The performances are so earnest and they bring in the levity exactly when it is needed and no more. The story becomes this grandiose adventure where there is no way to guess ahead of time where it might be going. For anyone who spent time with the 1980's cartoon series, this is a must see. For everyone else, you are expected to already understand the characters that were established on the TV show, so I recommend suffering through a couple of episodes first to get the most from the movie, but even without the TV show background, there is a wonderful story and beautiful hand drawn animation to appreciate. I give it an A, make a point to go see this movie.
"Streets of Fire" is absolutely beautiful, and I love the way it embraces long musical performances, but there is something about this movie that just makes it unwatchable. None of the performances work for me, even though I have enjoyed all of these actors in other movies. I give it a D, just don’t bother.
"Crocodile Dundee" is incredibly cute. It moves along at a good pace and there is fun to be had in every scene. If you can overlook some language and drug references, this is fun to watch with a kid. I give it a C, if you've already seen the best, but you insist on watching a movie, try this one out.
I never especially appreciated Nolan's style of action, and this movie is full of those long action segments, but one thing Nolan does right is tell really unique stories using master class filmmaking. I give it a B, next time you’re in the mood for a movie, this one won’t disappoint.
I kept waiting for "Long Shot" to drop the ball, but it never did. Fun movie with lots of laughs. This might be the only time I enjoyed Seth Rogan in a movie, and he was terrific. I give it an A, make a point to go see this movie.
"Commando" is how action movie should be. Lots of hard hits, people flying feet over head from explosions, and every scene is punctuated with a one liner. I give it a B, next time you’re in the mood for a movie, this one won’t disappoint.
I tried to find a reason to recommend "Shang-Chi". The beginning wasn't terrible. I actually thought there was merit to the early fight scenes, but very quickly, this movie devolved into a CGI borefest where so many storylines just died without any meaningful payoff. I give it a D, just don’t bother.
I feel like I should have loved "Free Guy". I can't find a single fault with it, it just didn't grab me the way I wanted it to. Maybe I just had trouble connecting to any characters, because it kept ripping me away from one story line to throw me in another that had a completely different vibe. Kudos for coming up with a new type of story that isn't the same old rehash we keep getting, and the digital effects really are something to marvel. There was no way they could have done the special effects other than with CGI, but unlike so many Disney movie, I couldn't find the seams between the real and digital footage. I give it a C, if you've already seen the best, but you insist on watching a movie, try this one out.
I know there are many faults with "Highlander", but I can't see them. To me the long tracking shots from off-putting angles are beautiful and the Queen soundtrack makes every scene legendary. I give it an A, make a point to go see this movie.
There was a lot to like about "Life of Brian", but ultimately, it just didn't click with me. I chuckled at a few jokes, and I really was impressed by the quality of the production, but I would never want to watch it again. I give it a D, just don’t bother.
Spielberg can be such a blessing and a curse at the same time for a movie. I feel like "Minority Report" succeeds despite his tendencies. I have a theory that Spielberg intentionally hires actors who give quirky performances in an attempt to make the movie memorable, but it just ends up being distracting to an otherwise really good movie. Also, ILM, totally blew it here. The backgrounds look incredible, but any time the movie focuses in an a CGI element, it looks so bad that it takes me out of the experience. I give it a B, next time you’re in the mood for a movie, this one won’t disappoint.
"Sorry to Bother You" is absolutely insane in all the best ways. If you can go in without spoilers, you will be in for a true roller coaster of a ride. It has a positive message and does it in an entertaining way. I give it a B, next time you’re in the mood for a movie, this one won’t disappoint.
It is amazing to me how competently made this movie is, considering how absolutely nonsensical the story is. If any of the characters had acted reasonably or the resolution had felt earned at all, I could recommend this, but, as it is, I can only warn you to avoid this mess. I give it a D, just don’t bother.
If you insist on watching “A Glitch in the Matrix”, make sure to turn it off after the first 30 minutes. That was as long as it managed to have anything of interest to say, and from that point on it was just killing time by letting people with absolutely no expertise in the field prattle on with their meaningless accounts. I give it a D, just don’t bother.
I really enjoyed the first 30 minutes of “Caddyshack II”. There were a lot of fun comedic bits and it even has a good message; however, the rest of the movie kind of drags. Not unwatchably bad, just not that great. As a PG movie, I'd recommend this if you have a young kid around and you are looking for something to watch together. I think this movie gets a worse rep than it deserves because it is not the same kind of movie as the original “Caddyshack”. The sequal is more about delivering a positive message that is geared at kids, rather than being the raunchy R rated comedy of the first one. I give it a C, if you've already seen the best, but you insist on watching a movie, try this one out.
“Skyfall” is one of the better Bond movies? Yes, that is a question mark. I hated this movie. Watching people have ear piece conversations does not ramp up the tension of a scene, it just **** all the personality out of the conflict. Seriously, the plot made no sense. The only reason I am giving it a passing grade is because it was competently shot to where I didn't feel like I was watching one big CGI fest. I give it a C, if you've already seen the best, but you insist on watching a movie, try this one out.
