Reviews

Absolutely cunning story-telling! Engaging at every level, with a story that feels short but is clean, leaving room for little to no mistakes. Ideally a great example of how to write a strong realistic female character that's not boring or simply to push any political agendas.

After hearing who was involved in the writing of this film (Damien Chazelle) I was no longer surprised at the talented work this project showed. All 3 principle actors were also well casted (especially Goodman) and seem to fit well.

I feel the only place that may fall flat in slightest is the last 20 minutes of the film. But in all honestly, this may be the only part that might correlate to franchise's previous installment Cloverfield, and so it's understandable at the least.

Excellent film! Even to watch as a stand-alone!

Despite its inability to feed you with any real information or context of the story or anything of its plot, the film finds itself at the peak of the art of filmmaking.

For most films, images and sounds can only take you so far before falling flat without a driving narrative. But even without an attractive story Kubrick manages to keep your attention all the way through, giving you images that keep your eyes locked on without a doubt. For a 2-hour film, the experience flew by. It's mesmerizing soundtrack and beautiful cinematography is the key to enjoying this strange experiment.

Very confusing. Very messy. Very strange. But artistic and revolutionary nonetheless.

Very entertaining and full of action. This film will not fail to entertain you if you are looking for an intense movie to view. The story is very simple, as were all the previous Mad Max films before it, so I can't criticize it for that.

I respect the fact that they decided to bring back George Miller to direct this film, after all, a franchise is best revived by the ones who helped start it all in the first place. The artistic style, the cinematography, over-the-top action, even some of weird dialogue that doesn't always sound like it rolls off the lips very well, are all things that we see in Fury Road that were all memorable in the previous installments.

This film is definitely a successful sequel to the classic franchise. I couldn't say it's my favorite type of film, but is definitely worth the high ratings.

Blade Runner 2049. A film that has gone beyond my expectations. This is exactly the kind of way a sequel to a film should be. Some might say that it isn't. I personally find this to be much better than its predecessor.

The visual cinematography is beautiful, as are most of Roger Deakins' work. The detailed visual effects compliment the cinematography as well. The music was wonderful and produced a similar style to Vangelis' work from the first movie.

Overall it seems they took all of the great elements from the first film and applied it to the second one. Simply, this is how you make a second film based off of an already well-known movie.

I must say again, I enjoyed this film much better than the first. It was much easier to follow along as they really did a good job of investing you into the plot.

Overall amazing film! Beautiful work from Dennis Villenueve and his team.

Outdated and definitely feels aged. There are plenty of scenes that just outright feel awkward and strange for today. I also found myself laughing at a few moments that I'm guessing were meant to be serious. It's probably because much of the acting doesn't feel very believable.

But even apart from this, the film manages to still maintain your attention.

The visual effects, cinematography and film score are by far the best part of this experience. Vangelis' work is mesmerizing and really immerses you into this cyberpunk world. Without it, the film would be half as good.

Entertaining enough and enjoyable.

Not going to lie...I very much disliked this film. The overall success in what this film seeks is beyond any horror film I've seen. It's so well made that it's come to disgust and shy me away from ever watching it again. Everything from its production design, cinematography and even its costumes all feed you with a sense of uneasiness. Nothing in this film makes you happy or satisfied, which is why it is such an effective film. Reminds me a lot of The Wicker Man. Creepy until it becomes just flat out horrific and sickening. But of course, these are all of the emotions that this film hopes to bring out of you and I give it credit for doing so. The only real way to learn about this film is to watch it yourself. Executed very well. And will most likely plan on not watching this film for a very long time (for good reasons). Excellent film.

The way you react to this film depends on how you view two things: Drugs and Homelessness.

The trailer is very misleading as you may accidentally mistaken it for a sci-if thriller. It's not a thriller and can be very disappointing when you go through the film at first. Whoever developed the trailer did not market it well and is very upsetting. But if you sit back and experience it with no expectations, the film is actually very good. Our two main talented actors do a really good job of portraying these unique character and really give you a sense of who they are and what they are experiencing. As of the time of this review, the film was just recently released and already is having mixed reviews. It's a story inspired by real situations told in a unique and thought-provoking way. Which is why it really depends on your thoughts and views on the real world issues this is based on. It may come across as controversial in some ways but speaks some truth that isn't spoken enough about in the mainstream. The ending was super good and doesn't leave you upset or unsatisfied like some films like to do. Very solid and deserves more credit. Although, whoever was in charge of marketing did not do a good job.

If you watch the film going in with no expectations, disregarding your knowledge of realism and logic, then this film is quite beautiful. Giving off a similar mood and tone to the movie Ad Astra and even the once popular video game Tacoma, the film feels long drawn out but never loses your attention. I found myself very captivated throughout the film. The trick to enjoying it was going in, merely watching it with no expectations and understanding that it's simply just a movie. The story was also simple enough for a movie of this genre. It's simplicity made the film all the more mesmerizing and quiet frankly kept me interested. Acting was very solid, which is something I'm not surprised by being that George Clooney Directed the film. Nothing felt fake and had a genuineness to it all, even if the things the characters were doing were necessarily logical. I guess the movie isn't for everyone. But if you loved Ad Astra, hopefully you can get a kick out of this one. A sense of sci-fi that isn't always action-packed is what you will get here, and it does it really well! Very well-crafted film!

Mank finds itself in a middle ground. The story is very complex, filled with so much information and some of it feels very irrelevant to the main plot. The common viewer may quit before the second half, being that it can also feel very slow during the beginning. In some ways, I like to think that the film tries to be this way in terms of the story on purpose. Citizen Kane (the film Mank was based off of) was also a confusing film, and makes me think that the film was created in such a way to mimic this style of movie-making. Other than this, the film still somehow continues to keep my attention, even if it feels slow at times. Gary Oldman and his fellow cast do an amazing job with playing their roles in subtle matters and really get invested into their characters. If it wasn't for their performance, I feel this movie could have declined in some ways. Overall, the film is solid and eventually reveals its purpose but will take a little bit of focusing and brain-power to do so. Especially if you are not familiar with the story or Citizen Kane, this may not be entertaining or come off as very bland of a filming.

A movie that never lost my attention but somehow was confusing right from the start. For the common audience, this film may seem like it makes no sense and may even become boring. You honestly have to force yourself to watch through the entire film to completely understand everything. But even with everything being thrown at you in a weird, confusing way, the film makes you feel extremely satisfied when you do finally figure everything out in the end, and man, is it worth it. Nolan never ceases to make something worth the money and time and this is no different. Definitely one of his more complex and mind-bending concepts. The only thing I found to be a nuisance in this film was the constant changing of the aspect ratio. Well over 10-15 times do we see the film change aspect ratios as the letterbox (black bars top and below the film) disappears during different cuts. It can be annoying seeing the letterbox appear and disappear during the film. Other than this, Tenet was definitely worth it! Not Nolan's best but a hit nonetheless!

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader is a good film but simply doesn't cut it for me when comparing it to Andrew Adamson's previous two installments. I grew up watching these three films as a child and after watching them as an adult I can definitely see the contrast between Voyage of the Dawn Treader and the other two films. One the big things that threw me off with this film was the overall mood and tone. I understand that even the book took the "pirate-style" approach, but this film just simply doesn't feel like Narnia. I want to say that it is partially due to the fact that Andrew Adamson did not direct the film. This is not to say that Michael Apted did a bad job but every director has its own flavor. Apted's flavor is much different than Adamson' thus feeling like a different type of movie. No matter what you do, if you hire a different director than you automatically give your film a different feeling. I also felt it very strange of them to shoot everything in such a low shutter speed (or so it looked like it). Every form movement was so soft that it almost look fake. I heard rumors that it was a marketing scheme but have also heard that it might have been a Cinematographer's preference. Being a Cinematographer myself, I find it to be quite distracting at times and took me out of the film. Now that most of the bad stuff are out of the way, lets talk about one of the highlights of this film...Will Poulter. Will Poulter soars above all other talent in this film. No matter what he does, his performance always seemed to satisfy me and make me smile. His presence automatically made a scene better and is a good example of good acting gone unnoticed at the time. His performance has definitely saved me from dropping this film rating any lower, as I enjoyed it very much. It feels kind of wrong to critique a director based off the previous work of someone else. But unfortunately that is what had to happen here. With doing a sequel to a hit series comes the pressure and standards that go with it. So in the end The Voyage of the Dawn Treader seems to hit me at times in a good way but also at times in a bad way. This film works as a film alone (one maybe to watch with your family) but I definitely feel that it had the potenial to go above and beyond like its predecessors did, sometimes pushing rating boundaries as a children's film and getting even more creative.

There are so many things I can say about this film. The first being how much I appreciate DC for producing this film. Many large Studio names have a tendency for getting involved in the creative aspect of movies and sometimes ruining the original director's plan. But from the looks of it, it seems DC simply let go and allowed the filmmakers to do whatever they wanted. Whatever they did, it was the right decision. This project is not merely about the comic book character they say it is. This character feels like a real person. The writing in this film is beyond acceptable and kept me engaged all the way through. The personal story about Arthur Fleck can hit you hard and make you feel and understand exactly what he is going through. I have never experienced anything he has done or felt before in his way. But the way they execute it, makes me feel like I AM HIM, and if not that than feel bad for him. Along with this, Joaquin Phoenix's performance was an overachievement. And to think that there was a lot of pressure on the guy, being that there was another actor who played Joker who won an Oscar prior. You would not think that this character came from a super hero comic book. I most definitely enjoyed this film and I am so glad that they did what they did. Never was there ever a DC film that delve so deep into a film where it became a psychological film that shows you the personal life of someone like this (not even Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight Trilogy takes this approach). Very good. Modern Day Cinema.

Gemini Man is not as bad as critiques and audiences claim it to be. There are definitely flaws but this film was not a complete flop when it comes to an interesting action movie. To say the least this movie had great potential that was not fully unlocked. First off many would claim that the film's story is not appealing. This is not true. The characters are well written in certain ways and the basic plot is easy enough to understand without making it boring. In fact, the most interesting character, in my opinion, is probably Henry's (Will Smith) clone. The only "writing" issue I have with this feature is the romance. They seem to hint many times at a "romance" between two of our main characters but it always comes off weird being that one character looks too old and the other too young. The film does in fact have fairly good visual effects. I did enjoy seeing a young version of Will Smith and even forgot that he was fake at times. But unfortunately during the moments that were rough, they were very noticeable. At times, Junior (will smith clone) would speak and his lips would not fully move or would look like mumbling. Also, being that Ang Lee loves to sometimes film scenes with fast shutter speeds, the cgi is the most flat and wacky being that everything looks so blurry and soft. I cannot say that this film is a disaster. I enjoyed a lot of the action moments and was fairly engaged the whole way through. But for a director with his reputation, I definitely was hoping for something more jaw-dropping. Satisfying but not Cinema-status for sure.

Mulan is film that is very interesting at the least. The filmmakers try to take this film at a different approach than what the original Mulan fans are used to. Although different is not bad, and I very much respect the fact that they changed it up rather than creating a complete copy of the animated film, this movie is very mixed in what it does. Before I begin to really "critique" the film, let me explain the good elements of this film. Right off the bat, the first I will say is that the cinematography is amazing in this film. Out of the many recent Disney remakes, this film that had one of the most visually appealing cinematography. There were so many "WOAH" shots that took my breath away. Even better, the colors complimented it so well and made everything feel alive. I also enjoyed the casting and overall performance from the actors. Although it was a little annoying to hear some actors with American accents and some with Chinese accents, it wasn't as big of a deal to me. Unfortunately these features were not enough to Now onto the cons. I feel that sometimes this film doesn't know what it wants to be. It tends to avoid many of the magic elements from the animated original (the ancestors, mushu, etc.) and made it look like a historical. But then again they added other elements like chi and witches. This confused me a little bit. They made it seem like a historical-type drama in the trailers but continued with the fantasy. And if I must say so, the animated film felt much more "historical" than this one. I don't know much Chinese history, but this film did not convince me that they were living in a real place. As I said, I feel they didn't establish what type of film they were trying to make. It doesn't feel magical but it also doesn't feel completely gritty and real either. Our main character Mulan also suffers from a terrible syndrome that has been seen in many other Disney films (StarWars episodes 7-9). Unfortunately Mulan suffers from the Mary Sue syndrome, which states that she is a character that is too "perfect". Right from the beginning young Mulan already knows everything and has it all perfect. She is a skilled fighter with great reflexes prior to even going through training. Even then, the training scene does not show herself as learning anything. It seems almost as if that scene was useless and more or less a tribute to the original film. The original film did a better job of showing the struggle she went through, being that she was a woman competing with men. If they would've fixed this, it could've saved it a little more in my opinion. In general, this film was an enjoyable Disney film to watch with family. But as a cinema-lover myself, I can't say that I was sold on it. Images were beautiful but was not enough to save it. 5/10

Mel Gibson and his team outdid themselves here. It seems that no matter what he is looking to tell (faith-based film, historical film, etc.), he always knows exactly how to tell the story in a real way. He is known for not sugar-coating anything in his movies and this film has many jaw-dropping moments. Aside from how raw and graphic it can be, the film gives you a great sense of how it might have been in that time period and brings the environment to life. Although the overall outline of the film is very simple, Mel Gibson makes every shot, scene and setting engaging and worth while. Although the cinematography from The Passion of the Christ (Gibson's previous film) had many more "wow" moments, Apocalypto is not far from it. The only real problem I found in it, was how each shot sometimes had a different shutter speed (meaning that some shots had soft movements and some shots look more choppy). I really enjoyed the choppy look many of the shots had but was always taken out when I saw a super soft-looking shot. This could easily be of preference to the filmmakers but I didn't like it personally. But of course, this isn't nearly as bothersome to crush this film.

Mel Gibson is one of those directors that could care less about what you think about his film. I admire the fact that when he makes a film, he makes it in the way he feels fit, and not whether the audience would like it or not. I respect this film a lot and never found a dull moment. Exhilarating and amazing!

One of the most visually appealing films out there! Not just through it's use of CGI but through its amazing art design and cinematography! At moments the film can feel very hectic and at times very mesmerizing and peaceful; this film does a great job balancing both. I also applaud the film for doing an exceptional job with describing its story at moments using no words. The best scenes in the film are ones that had no dialogue whatsoever and allowed you to soak in the cinematic experience. And better yet, the score accompanied this film so well, adding more of an emotional element overall. I must say that Ang Lee and his team did very well on this film and found myself very satisfied in the end!

I found myself cringing and laughing a lot at this film because of some of the cheesy moments. This was probably very effective for its time, but was more "interesting" to me than scary. I still enjoyed it and love Sam Raimi films. Of course, this isn't his best work, but we all started somewhere and always get better. Good film.

Despite it's compelling and moving narrative, Overcomer still fails in what it is. I am a Christian who enjoys watching Christian films, but will not give it a good rating just because it had a good message. Story is only half of a film. The other half falls flat with its bland editing and acting.

Many shots in the film felt undeveloped as well. Some of them were way too bright and should have been color corrected during post production. I don't like to give films bad ratings but unfortunately the Christian Film Industry is known for making cheap films. The Kendrick Brothers have made better films and wish Christians would up their game. If there was one thing I did like, it was some of the shots they chose to use such as various drone shots and even some nice crane shots. 5.5/10

This film chooses to stay on the more mellow-toned side of things, which I very much enjoy. The overall film is short, making it feel almost like a short film but still sticks out as a compelling one. It feels more like a short story; something you would hear about in a small book or so. The film was very solid and had a sense of peace to it that was very appealing. It can confuse many people easily and feel bland, but honestly I embrace this film and give it thumbs up! Great Job to Logan Marshall Greene! I was satisfied!

While not a terrible movie, Frozen 2 doesn't achieve the same entertainment as did its predecessor. Although I did laugh at moments and enjoyed the film enough, there were also moments where the film felt "too childish". Now, that may sound strange (being that it is a children's movie), but personally I believe that a good children's film is a movie that can entertain both kids and adults alike. Because what's the point in writing a good review for a movie if it only applies to kids (unless the reviewer is a child of course). The film seemed to also fall flat with its songs as well. Many people may disagree, but I did not like it how every song sounded like it came from a different genre of music. I'm sure there is enough people who enjoyed that, but I take it as inconsistent and not fitting with the film. Other than this, the basic story was solid and I was very impressed with the digital cinematography. I enjoyed a lot of the imagery and visuals that they presented.

Overall, like I said, the film is not terrible but it did not completely resonate with me.

Little Women is a film that touches on the different culture that was present during the Civil War era. It gives us a unique story that revolves around four sisters who stuck together during the hardships of their life. Out of all the movie remakes that have been made recently, I would have to say that this is probably one of the most satisfying ones of the year. This film is not only a remake but also based on a book. Making a film like this is very hard, due to people wanting to compare it to both the book and the previous movie that was based on it. But somehow this film succeeds in what it tries to be. I came into the theater not expecting much. I watched the trailer and thought it felt too modern and political (which I hate movies that are very political). Turns out that the film was actually very well-made. Although the film did have politics and social issues taking place, it blended with the time period so I found it appropriate. The film also had great cinematography which I found to be very eye-catching. The use of composition and color was well done and appealing to watch. The use and structure was something I thought very impressive as well. For many scenes they always started with a wide shot, which would cut into a closer shot. And then another closer shot. I thought it was nice that they chose to start out wide and gradually zoom in through with editing, which is my last point. The editing is most likely the star of the film. The way they cut back and forth from the past and the present without confusing the audience came to be impressive. Structurally, the editing is very consistent and feels very purposeful with every cut back and forth. I honestly think that this is the most impressive part of the film. Overall the film was very attractive and very rarely did I lose its attention during the runtime. 8/10

Raging Bull keeps us entertained both audibly and visually through its impressive cinematography and great video & audio editing. The film shares with us a unique story that is gripping and well written. If there is anything I've learned from this film, it is how well Martin Scorsese makes his protagonist unlikeable, causing you to have pity on him. Overall fulfilling!

Radio is a unique sports film that doesn't, in fact, focus around any sports players or even the sports itself. It focuses on a young disabled boy who inspires an entire town with the help of a high school coach. This film has a very uplifting narrative that was inspired by a true story. The film was written in a way that makes you feel satisfied and happy when our hero succeeds and makes you feel compassion. It's very solid and successfully shows you what it wants to show you and I applauded them for it. But in all honesty, what really pulls the movie forward is obviously Cuba Gooding Jr. who works hard to give an excellent performance. His acting is so good, that you may just forget that Gooding Jr. doesn't really have a mental disability like this. It's phenomenal. Cuba Gooding Jr. pulls the film along and shows us how dedicated to this role he was. This film is more than satisfying and sometimes can understand why it has low critics ratings.

I had to study this short film/episode for a film class and I must say that this is outstanding. The sound editing and effects were great. The cinematography felt very advanced for its time, even some of the equipment used. The ending topped it off crazily and was a "wow"-ing moment. I surprised at how they did it and had inspired me to want to make something similar to it someday. Absolutely fantastic!

The Witch never failed to keep my attention and always seemed to work hard to keep the flow going. Every aspect and scene seemed to have a purpose towards the ending (except Caleb's sexually curious/ developing moments) and felt overall great. The film is horrific and works so well, being that there is practically no jump scares in this film (like 1 or 2) and its better that way. The only problem I have is with the ending. The final scenes bring a huge build up only to drop down with a simple ending. That kind of "what?" or "huh?" kind of ending. It leaves you wishing that the filmmakers would have wrote it a different way. A more satisfying way. Other than the ending the film does everything it intends to do and is very unique to other horror films.