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The P.H. Metric 78.75/100 During my showing 7 people walked out, and there was only probably 15 of us, and they made it no more 50 minutes in. Several people I went to the theater with fell asleep, yet critically applauded and here comes the divide. Movies critics love, film does not make money even when they have huge investment and movies critics don’t love film makes enough money to fund 5-15 more movies. So in short this film is a disservice, because ultimately fewer studios are willing to take the risk on artsy films and all this film needed was to tighten up its pacing and it would have probably broken even and in terms of cinematic vision that is hardly selling your soul. Directing: 8.75/10 The directing is superb and I am shocked with the level of investment that Villeneuve was given as much control as he was. Though it must be said that this film draws out shots for too long and this is from a man who loved the film Stalker. Where as something like Stalker is completely about the philosophical nature this film still tries to make it self an action/thriller/mystery film and these long takes end up killing the mystery and feels more like there is not enough story to go around, which ultimately is true. The shots themselves are lovely. Acting: 7/10 Ford is Ford the man is not that great of an actor and he really is just cashing in on old franchises at this point. Gosling’s muted touch was decent enough and while Leto’s weird character was weird in a good way the character itself was unneeded. The main villain of the piece was over the top and worthy of being in a film that is trying so hard to be nuanced. She ends up coming off as a jarring screeching noise. Cinematography: 10/10 Deakins’s cinematography shines, absolutely shines and this has to be his year. 13 noms and with Lubezki currently attached to a special award Oscar his major comp for the year is not there. Editing 8.5/10 I feel bad for Joe Walker he kept the ship as tight as he could throughout, but ultimately due to the nature of these long drawn out takes that it feels like he was ultimately overruled when it came to where to cut the film. Score/sound effects: 5.5/10 I would have scored this higher if I had not seen Arrival, where as the industrial style sound design should have been more engaging I could not help feeling they were reusing it from Arrival. Of course the sounds were meant to be jarring given all the silence we were fed, but ultimately it feels like that opening sequence in the remake of Funny Games, it is not shocking or jarring in the sense the creator wants, but more in the sense please turn down the TV those noises are starting to give me a headache. Visual Effects: 9/10 I get a sense of Silent Hill (the first game) it feels like the fog and dust in certain scenes is there to hide rather than enhance and when one goes back to the original Blade Runner these modern effects (specifically shots of the city) do not look like the technology has really pushed the boundaries, in fact it looks more like the status quo, which mind you the status quo is excellent, but not genre defining. Writing: 3/10 I am sad to find out there was a writer for this film. Now I previously mentioned Stalker which is similar in many regards, however the dialogue in that is profound, where is the dialogue in Blade Runner 2049 thinks it is. With such cliche android film lines as basically sacrificing yourself is the way to prove you are human. This concept never sits well with me, as apparently for an android the most human thing is to sacrifice yourself so that the human may continue to live a better life than you. That sounds like the kind of thing an android would be programmed to do. Asimov anybody? Everything just keeps pushing the fact that these androids want to be human, but ultimately it keeps slapping them down and saying they are not. It adds nothing to the greater debate over AI and ultimately when compared to the sheer quality of everything else in the film it looks out of place and useless, as if someone was brought in last minute to patch it up. Secondly the whole it could be him story was let out of the back to early on, so it made the double twist so predictable that it steals any power it had. Production Design: 9.5/10 Those in production design you all need more respect and deserve to be pushed further into the foreground, because when you do an excellent job no one says anything, only look how well this and that is, but you owned this film. Costume Design 9/10 Well done, especially Leto’s character, though I will say the only real negative was Wright’s outfit. What is this 2049 and she is channeling the 50’s or was she literally a copy of the police chief from Futurama. Also Ford’s was a little meh. Make-up/Hairstyle 8.5/10 Again Leto is the high point, but not much else as everything is high quality, but nothing feels astounding.

The P.H. Metric 61/100 The Foreigner rings out in the same way a nostalgia flick does, let us take something that was more cutesy and lovable and make it gritty, then get applauded for the dark tones of something that is almost the same as the cutesy original version. Directing: 5/10 Now the marketing is going to sell you on this is the director that made that gritty reboot to the Bond series (pattern?), but this is also a director that has averaged borderline ok to pure trash for almost every film he has made for the last 18 years, so if they are going to tout the good, remember the bad as well. The Foreigner is plain, nothing special, nothing amazing, average work from an increasingly average director. The camera work reeks of status quo and scenes as well as their shots play like the project was being rushed and not given any true forethought. Acting: 5/10 Brosnan and Chan acting powerhouses, they are not, but Chan is cast in a similar light as Jet Li in Danny the Dog, do not let him say much and get him to look brooding, but in terms of acting there is very little to display. Brosnan has to carry 90% of the acting in the film and while he makes a go of it, his talent is not quite there to be able to pull it off. Aside from these two, a series of increasingly wooden people try to make their arguments heard, but are nearly pointless in the cause. Cinematography: 7/10 Tattersall's cinematography is above average but not his best work to date and the fight scenes were shot in a such away that it felt like you could see Chan get dragged by the invisible rope every time he did a double drop kick. Editing 7/10 Catanzaro finally gets to step from out of the world of television and edit her first real film, (Smoking Aces 2 does not count) it was not a horrible first outing and with a couple steps into tightening up the pace of certain shots and phasing out some action that causes the quality of the film to go down, she could see her star rise higher. Score: 7/10 The sound crew did not let the film down and those pulsing tones, are felt hard and they are felt fast. One or two miscues drops the score a bit but overall decent job. Visual Effects: 6/10 I feel mean giving the visual department such a low score, I know they can only provide what is scripted and asked of them and in this case I am sure they could have provided more if they were pushed, but the effects felting underwhelming. Writing: 3/10 "OK did we make our protagonist sympathetic?" "Not really." "But it is Jackie Chan, did we at least make it seem like the system was screwing him over?" "Not really, we gave him a stalkerish vibe and showed no ineptness by the police or the Counter terrorism people." "Great, did we at least make it cohesive with plot-holes." "Well we turned all 500 plot-holes into one big plot-hole." "Perfect, sounds like we can knock off early." Production Design: 7/10 Production design was probably the highest ranking factor in the film and good on them, but that generally should never be the case. Costume Design 7/10 Very limited, for a good portion of the film every one is dressed in black and there happens to be a couple of issues with Jackie's outfit. Make-up/Hairstyle 7/10 Limited, though the work on Jackie was well-done, though the question of what is natural and what is not does pop up, but still decent job.

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

It is part 3 of an animated film that should be enough to tell you the level of quality you shall see. It has the cash in quality of any animated part 3 or direct-to-DVD product out there. There is no story or pacing. The voice cast of the originals show up for two or three lines and then vanish simply to obey their contracts. It is one of the most overly used story lines in the genre and one just simply has to roll with the punches hoping your children laugh. It is a cash in and you are watching it for your children or something in that regard. Any other reason other than that leaves to me ask then why are you watching this?

Real rating: 7.8/10 Those who love dearly are destined to be victims of wrath, a true yet cynical thought. A decently paced thriller for its length struggles with the weird morals of its characters, or lack thereof in 80% of the cast, as well as their inability to see that they are all prisoners to their own ideals, beliefs, desires and wants. They are inhumane creatures being portrayed as humane and no better example of this is the wife character thanking god for one of the most heinous atrocities an average human could conduct. The acting, while a touch over the top in scenes, is stellar, the cinematography is excellent and the directing superb, the writing is actually the let down, though it feels like it shouldn't be and most will be able to gloss over this as we the viewer tend to accept weaker writing so long as our emotional strings are being played eloquently.

The film won a deserving best supporting actress Oscar and lost out a best actress Oscar to a performance in a film that as of this writing has an IMDb score of 6.4, that more than anything sums up The Help. The important story is overshadowed by a more marketable one, which to Disney's credit is what they do best, they are marketing juggernauts. As for The Help it never feels genuine, in the same way that most people of a certain age remember white Christmases, when in reality the historical data shows there were actually very few. That is The Help, a white Christmas from our past that is marketing induced rather than a truly honest memory of the way things were.

The P.H. Metric 91/100 Directing: 9/10 A masterclass in direction. Spielberg’s connection to the source material pushed him to make something that defies any sort of dilettante criticisms. Every decision from the black and white to the stones hits hard and hits well. Leaving the viewer with a piece that is entertaining, yet horrifically beautiful as well as being the sort of thing any student of cinema should be studying. Acting: 9/10 Liam Neeson’s best role, before he revealed to the world that method acting is not something he subscribes to, which in turn means Liam Neeson plays Liam Neeson every time. The rest of the cast offers more nuanced performances that really provide the viewer with a subdued approach to such horrors, allowing the audience to feel disconnected from the tragedy, yet thrust into its dark world. Cinematography: 10/10 Red, red, red. Visually perfect. Editing 10/10 Editing makes a film, it cannot be said enough. Actors and the like get the credit, but editors along with the writers and directors are the heart, spine and brain of a film and this film only furthers to reinforce the fact that actors are far from needed to meld a film into something sublime. Score: 10/10 Williams provides another stellar score, which raises the question would Spielberg’s films be as successful with out them? That said, Williams builds tension that spills morosely over tragedy and celebratory fatigue. Visual Effects: 8/10 The shower scene aside, the visual effects are done well and kept in the century they are meant to be in and keeps the viewer planted firmly in the time period. Writing: 8/10 The writing is superb, however it does have one to many touches of the Hollywood penmanship to it, which does cause the film to drift into a territory that feels a little unnatural for the artistic intentions of the piece. Production Design 9/10 Superb production design, save for a few touches in the concentration camps. Costume Design 9/10 Authentic and eye catching, though does fall victim to the standard nerd mistakes. Make-up/Hairstyle 9/10 Several hairstyles feel off for the period and the make-up department does benefit greatly from the black and white.

The P.H. Metric 82/100 Directing: 9/10 The directing takes a hit, not because of Nolan’s efforts, but because of the script supervisor who I place in the directing section. Within the opening bombing of the film, (aside from PG-13ing something that should have been utterly horrific) the beach that was just blasted with several bombs does not seem to have taken a strike in any form. The men laying on the ground have no blasts sites near them or anything of that nature and this same issue reappears through out the film. As for Nolan from the moment we hit the beach and you see that shot taken of those two wooden pillars you can feel the influence of silent era films, which gives Dunkirk a completely different delivery to 99% of the other war films out there. Acting: 6/10 Due to the film be shot in the vein of a silent film the acting did not need to be perfect and the sheer lack of dialogue presented Nolan with the chance to cast near unknowns which added to the depth of the film and the soldiers naivete, however what little acting was on display did not amount to any grand gesture of the art, but instead more akin to Bicycle Thieves. Cinematography: 9/10 Superb, not Lubezeki great, but excellent none the less (also I should divulge I am a huge Cinematography nerd) I have been a fan of Hoytema’s work since Låt den rätte komma in and he continues to impress with some of his most exquisite work to date. Editing 9/10 Superb, couple of shots that did not quite gel as well as they should but ultimately the editing is on point and delivers action in just the right manner. Score: 10/10 Hans Zimmer’s score is pulse pounding and on point in every frame of the film, from start to finish it will leave you a sense dread that the film itself never truly captilaises on, but that is in no way the fault of Zimmer. Nolan’s use of the Shepard tone was brilliant and really gives life to the piece. Visual Effects: 9/10 Are stunning and capture the world perfectly, but this like many of Nolan’s other films are due to his love of practical effects and I tend to agree if they are done correctly, you get a better quality image that does not age near as horribly. Writing: 5/10 The film takes a heavy hit in terms of the writing, what with the script running a lean 76 pages. I can appreciate the improvised nature Nolan was trying to create, as war is chaos and there are no heroes spewing golden lines of perfection, however the lines that were on display were unrelentingly movie-esque to the point that the sense of realism that he was trying to portray with the improvisation gets washed away in a sea tropes. Production Design 8/10 Again only for the pedantic but there are host of anachronisms that plague the film and several shots with buildings that should not be there, that really feel like production design and costume design issues. Costume Design 8/10 Again only for the pedantic but there are host of anachronisms that plague the film and several shots with buildings that should not be there, that really feel like production design and costume design issues. Make-up/Hairstyle 9/10 Make-up had an easy run on this film when compared to many modern war films, but for what they did contribute they did a great job. No awards obviously, but they came out and made sure that everything looked decent.

Again we have the always inaccurate biopic, which in movie-dom is usually a chance to see quality acting if nothing else and Dallas Buyers Club is no exception. We receive two excellent portrayals from McConaughey and Leto and to be frank this why you will be watching the film. The supporting cast does not deliver anything spectacular, but luckily the story does not need them to. Cinematically the film is lacking, but it does have heart and that is why you should be watching this film. If you are homophobic or have issues with a film that lacks action or comedy then do not watch it. Everyone else enjoy. Entertainment value 7.8 Poe Scale 6.5 Acting: 1.5/2 Cinematography: 1/2 Editing: 1/2 Effects and Design 1/2 Writing: 2/2

Argo is for all intensive purposes one of the most over hyped films in quite sometime and given the fact that it is on the edge of being propaganda one can quickly realize why. While I applaud Afflek's continuing development as a director. This work aside from his direction is sub-par at best. Like all based on a true story films it is extremely loosely based, but the sheer fact that it is based on reality robs the movie of all suspense. Reality is fine for docudrama's but reality in terms of suspense is quite dull. Argo is a film that needs you to leave your brain at the door and hopes that you know not of things like history or something other ethnic stereotypes. From an entertainment standpoint that is usually a good choice in any film, check out and buy into what they are selling. However from a technical standpoint it creates films that falter. On Entertainment value I would give it a 7.5 On the Poe Scale however it gets a 6.5 Acting: 1/2 Cinematography: 1/2 Editing: 1.5/2 Effects and Design 1.5/2 Writing: 1.5/2

Steven Spielberg loves to tell a story and that is what makes his movies so engrossing even when the subject matter appears a bit daunting, however Lincoln's pacing is an issue that only the die hard fans could possibly ignore. In terms of entertainment one must have a love of history, a love acting and love of politics if you do not have these then this film will score low on your entertainment measure. From a cinematic stand point it is something one could study and learn a lot from. Entertainment value a crushing 6.5 On the Poe Scale an impressive 8.5 Acting: 1.5/2 Cinematography: 1.5/2 Editing: 2/2 Effects and Design 2/2 Writing: 1.5/2

The movie is what one could deem an alt. romantic comedy any other belief going in is only going to lead you into a sad state affairs. The casting is uninspired, but there are not many romantic comedies alt. or regular that can say otherwise. So in terms of enjoyment do you like quirky things? Do you have a positive state of being even when the evidence suggests otherwise? Congratulations this film is for you, everyone else exit the room because that ending will surely ruin your day. Entertainment value if you like quirky films a 7. The Poe Scale is 5.5 that I will bump to a six as this films budget was under a million. Acting: 1/2 Cinematography: 1/2 Editing: 1/2 Effects and Design 1/2 Writing: 1.5/2

Bernie is a film that lives and dies on Jack Black's blade. Those who want Black to be no more than a bumbling fat man, will find no enjoyment in this film for this is Black's attempt to be a little something more and kudos on his effort it is enjoyable to watch him. Linklater continues to push his attempts at being different and I happy to see him trying to work around the system as best he can. As for McConaughey this is the performance that brought a man's career back from the dead and it is always a pleasure to see an actor prove you wrong. What makes the film entertaining is sadly what also hurts it cinematically and this is the interviews and cuts with the locals. The film if one is into dark comedies should warrant an entertainment value of a 7.5, but on the Poe Scale it is a 6.5. Acting: 1/2 Cinematography: 1/2 Editing: 1.5/2 Effects and Design 1/2 Writing: 2/2

David O. Russell has said before that the plot does not matter and when watching this film you know he genuinely believes this to be true, because this film has so many plot holes in it that in five years it will slide into the last refuge of forgotten films created solely as Oscar bait. This film is meant to do no more than showcase actors, its development, plotting and writing fall almost to the wayside as we are subjected to actors (save for Deniro) who do not understand the mental illness their characters possess and attached with an ending that would normally be featured in cheesy 80's Patrick Swayze film. Frankly I would give the film roughly a 5 on the enjoyment scale, but the Poe scale gives it 6.5 Acting: 2/2 Cinematography: 1/2 Editing: 1.5/2 Effects and Design 1/2 Writing: 1/2

Wes Anderson admires young love in a way that most do not, or I suppose I should say that he admires youth and the youthful view as all his films have that adolescent glow about them as if he is forever locked in a state of arrested development. I for one am particularly swayed by his films and their upbeat take on a nihilistic world. Moonrise Kingdom follows the Anderson pantheon like every other member of his rag tag cult and even though you know everything that is going to take place you still in enjoy the ride. I would give this film an 8.5 as a fan of the man's work, however the Poe scale suggest a 7.5 at best. The Poe Scale Acting: 1/2 Cinematography: 2/2 Editing: 1.5/2 Effects and Design 2/2 Writing: 1/2

Michael Haneke does not make films to entertain. He makes films to jar the audience to make you feel unease as you partake in what is quite often a tragic journey. Which Amour is to a tee. There is no moment of hope or redemption to be found in this piece, but in this tragic endeavour we are given the opportunity to partake in a selfless love, as if to say that tragedy is only as such if you allow to be, but beauty and tragedy are in fact one in the same. I thoroughly enjoyed this film and would honestly give it a 9 in my opinion, however the Poe Scale says. Acting: 2/2 Cinematography: 1.5/2 Editing: 1.5/2 Effects and Design 1/2 Writing: 2/2

Not a movie that I thoroughly enjoyed and aside from the chemistry of the two stars I felt no genuine force driving me to continue watching said piece from an entertainment standpoint, however from a cinematic stand point one can see why it is consider one of the classics. So on a personal level I feel a 6.5 is more than appropriate for this uneven farce, however on the Poe scale it does score an 8. Acting: 1.5/2 Cinematography: 2/2 Editing: 1.5/2 Effects and Design 1.5/2 Writing: 1.5/2

The fabled gold that surrounds The Hobbit is quite applicable as we can see this film struggling with its pacing which stems from no other source than the search of loot, and by loot I mean the money in the general populace's pockets. The Hobbit is at best two movies and the first of this series helped prove this to a great droning yawn. The acting has become tired and listless save for Smaug and Bilbo the rest of the cast is there for the same reasons as the financiers. The Poe Scale: Acting: 1/2 Cinematography: 1.5/2 Editing: 1.5/2 Effects and Design 2/2 Writing: 1/2

Quite obviously an extremely biased film posing as historical, which I find condescending given the fact this is a Disney picture. Given that we know this going into the film we should not be surprised by the bombardment of schmaltz we receive. Personally I found this irritating and far from palatable which would leave me to give it a 5.5 on personal grounds, however on the Poe Scale it receives a 6.5 it would have been a seven, but through out the picture you cannot help but feel that the Disney corporation is forcing the actors to hold back. Acting: 1.5/2 Cinematography: 1.5/2 Editing: 1/2 Effects and Design 1.5/2 Writing: 1/2

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

Scorsese does what Scorese does best. He approaches his pieces with out a filter and this concept has almost always worked for him, however in trying to allow the viewer to see the type of sleaze that comes from wall street, he has achieved his goal but in that same fragile second repulsed the viewer in such away that they end up demonizing the film instead of the characters with in. DiCaprio gives a standard performance, but offers nothing new. Jonah Hill's performance proves he is growing even if the character he is forced to portray is two dimensional. The poe scale: Acting: 1.5/2 Cinematography: 1.5/2 Editing: 1.5/2 Effects and Design 1.5/2 Writing: 1/2