Reviews

Like, don't know where to start with this nightmarish, abominable and disastrous trainwreck. Nothing about Cats really works as a film, which really justifies the point that not everything can be translated well into a film and Cats should have just been stuck on the stages of Broadway and West End and by making it into a film, the results are nothing but disastrous.

Everything about Cats just makes it completely bizarre, unwatchable, grotesque, disgusting and unappealing. First, the CGI and its visual effects are utterly horrifying and atrocious, which sinks the film into an uncanny valley, given that much of the problems of the movie itself are laid on the decision to have the actors appear as cats through motion performance capture, with their recognizable faces being awkwardly grafted onto digital, humanoid cat models. Not to mention that the appearance of CGI mice and cockroaches within the film and its overreliance of green screen, offers the film no good and redeemable favors. Also, the looks and features within this movie also draws negatives comparisons of movies that are feline-related such as 1996's The Island of Dr. Moreau, 2003's Cat in the Hat, and 2004's Catwoman.

Another issue of this movie comes with Tom Hooper's horrible and awful direction, which is completely shocking, considering the fact that he's crafted brilliant movies before, such as The King's Speech (for which he won an Oscar for his austere direction, with the movie itself winning Best Picture), Les Misérables and The Danish Girl. In Cats, his direction on this movie is completely scattered-brain, unfocused and thoroughly messy, with its generic coverage of marquee sequences which feels rushed and abrupt, inconsistent pacing as well as heavily chopped-in and metronomic editing while overly reliant on both close-ups and extreme wide shots; giving it no style or personality to the filmmaking. Worse, the live singing approach that he employed within this movie was pointless and unnecessary, while giving a disservice for the cast members who can't simultaneously act and sing at the same time.

Third, some of the songs within this movie that were adapted from the stage musical (with the exception of "Memory") were utterly dated, repetitive, obnoxious and strange, with the rest of its musical numbers turned out to be cringeworthy and abysmal, and while some of these songs were celebrated in its prime; nowadays, most of these songs have entered into self-parody.

Fourth, the tone for Cats is completely strange, off-putting, confusing and constantly jarring, which makes the film struggle of finding its identity, with the film erratically jumping from a comedy or an epic musical fantasy or a family-friendly genre, which makes the film completely odd. Making matters worse comes with the virtually non-existent plot, which sums up the earlier statement that not every material or medium can be translated into film, and this film proves it. With the absence of plot, it also makes it difficult for the audiences of understanding this film. Rather than expanding its wafer-thin narrative, Tom Hooper and his co-screenwriter, Lee Hall (of whom the latter is behind of some of the character-driven and in-depth screenplays such as 2000's Billy Elliot, 2011's War Horse, and most recently, 2019's Rocketman) doubles down on its thin storyline by playing safe and not taking boldly creative risk on the story and instead relying on its elaborate song-and-dance routines to keep the audiences interested (of which the audiences will get bored and uncomfortable of watching it).

And fifth, comes with the terrible performances of James Corden, Rebel Wilson and Taylor Swift as Bustopher Jones, Jennyanydots, and Bombalurina. As for the former, he gives a deeply grating performance, with a lame "comic relief" sketch and a totally flat musical number, while Wilson was basically just acting out on a feline version of her usual shtick in the worst ways possible, and lacks the ripe singing voice to make it interesting, and as for the latter, Swift simply acts out in a pretentious manner and comes off as utterly distracting, not to mentioned that she gives a horrible British accent. Also, the comedy within the film, made it unfunny and cringeworthy. Furthermore, the supporting performances of Idris Elba, Ray Winstone, as well as acting legends such as Sir Ian McKellen and Dame Judi Dench are completely squandered and wasted, with the latter two simply giving embarrassing performances, of which it draws similar yet terrible parallels of great actors giving terrible performances in terrible movies such as Sir Patrick Stewart in The Emoji Movie and Al Pacino in Jack and Jill.

However, Cats had a few redeemable qualities that stood out in this horrible mess. One of the most important aspects of the film is that it managed to nail the singing right, for which most of it was good, despite its horrible and distracting CGI. Of all the members of the cast that stood out, Jennifer Hudson gave out her scene-stealing and riveting performance as Grizabella, with her stirring genuinely stirring rendition of "Memory", which serves as a highlight in this dreadful movie. Despite giving out a bad acting and a bad accent to boot, Taylor Swift somehow managed to nail a good singing performance and a good musical number, while nailing the high-camp tone the movie seeks of. At the same time, the dance choreography is also strong across the board, in spite of Tom Hooper's lackluster direction. Lastly, the production design of the film itself is also exceptionally good, with props be credited on the craftsfolk working on Cats who put a ton of work into creating a tangible world, not to mentioned that its physical sets are pretty terrific for the most part, especially those which place an emphasis on the smaller stature of the cats, therefore having them interact with comically oversized objects, regardless on its horrible emphasis on the use of garish digital backdrops and green screen.

But in the end, Cats is considered as one of the worst movie adaptations of a hit musical to be adapted, and probably the very worst ever attempted at this price point and scale. Almost every creative choice on this movie was utterly wrong, the visual design is a ridicule-worthy disaster (also being hilarious for all the wrong reasons), nor doesn't even seem to understand what made the musical so successful in the first place. Furthermore, it's also considered as one of the worst musical films to have been made, next to these terrible musical misfires such as 2004's The Phantom of the Opera, 2009's Nine and 2017's The Greatest Showman. Not to mentioned that Cats is one horrible musical film that brings the musical genre into an all-time low status, as well into a total disgrace and travesty. However, Cats has some potential to become a cult classic in the vein of The Rocky Horror Picture Show, even by conventional filmmaking standard is that Cats is an awful film. Yet, its inherent weirdness will ensure that it still wins its fair share of supporters, and will no doubt be screened on a regular basis on the midnight movie circuits within the next few years. Furthermore, the insane production of this movie will no doubt be talked in years to come (as in the case of bad movies like Jack and Jill, and Batman & Robin) and as horrible as this movie turned out to be, few are likely to forget about it any time soon.

As much as Disney continues to turn every animated film within their animated vault into live-action, the live-action adaptation of Aladdin is turned into an underwhelming, uninspired and jumbled mess, with only a few redeemable qualities.

In terms of direction, Guy Ritchie is proven to be ill-suited to direct a musical like Aladdin, given the fact of how he handled the direction of the musical sequences turns completely bland, and the results of its action sequences were choppily-cut and sloppy, which results on his direction as extremely rote and soulless. Another issue with this remake, is that the script is completely messy and it's all over the place, with full of cringeworthy dialogue, humour and off-putting jokes, with none of it stick the landing. Furthermore, the prevalence of ham-fisted exposition also results to the loss of naturalism and dramatic pause, and it weakens characterizations. Making no favors either, is that the brutally slowed pacing, which makes the viewing experience of this remake to feel like a complete slog. Another problem that this remake truly suffers, is with the cheap-looking quality of the costumes and sets, along with the inconsistent CGI (particularly the CGI quality of Will Smith's Genie, which almost looks unwatchable), making the remake completely dull and garish. The worst quality of this movie, comes with a cheap and bad cinematography that features like a TV instead of cinema, as well as the jarring and incoherent editing, which really weaken the film's quality even further.

And lastly, comes with the terrible performance of Marwan Kenzari as Jafar, who's completely miscast for the villainous role of Jafar. While film attempts to make Jafar a more suave, handsome and even charming character - compared to being both a literal and figurative cartoon in the animated film, Kenzari's lack of screen presence and wooden delivery fails to do justice to the iconic Disney villain. Furthermore, the part desperately needed an actor with actual bass in their voice, not to mention a prevailing charisma, both of which Kenzari simply lacks. Making no good favors, comes with the underwhelming voice work of Alan Tudyk as Iago, whom simply wasted and falls short to the superior voice work of Gilbert Gottfried as Iago.

Still, the Aladdin is still salvaged with some redeemable qualities that saved this remake from being a complete trainwreck. Among the cast that stood out as the best, was Will Smith in his interpretation of the Genie of which he easily serves as the most entertaining aspect of the entire movie and nearly stealing the whole show. At the same time, his performance gave him the most Will Smith performance that he has ever given. Also, Will Smith also have a good sense of not to try and imitate or out-do the iconic performance of Robin Williams's Genie, by placing Will Smith's own style and flavor in his version of the Genie, which is completely impressive. Also, the major standouts with the movie were Mena Massoud and Naomi Scott as Aladdin and Jasmine, who gave out their fleshed out and natural chemistry to win out above the cheesy nature of the film, as well as charismatic performances. Other members of the cast that nearly stole the show were Nasim Pedrad as Dalia, and Billy Magnussen as Prince Anders, despite of the two being underutilized, had the most effective comedic work and timing.

All in all, the Aladdin remake still serves as an inferior and weak counterpart to the more superior 1992 animated original. Nevertheless, in spite of the film's flaws and problems, the Aladdin remake can simply be treated as a guilty pleasure.

As much as the live-action adaptations from Disney have been controversial as of late, the live-action of The Lion King (despite being all rendered as CGI) is without a doubt, the most pointless and unnecessary live-action remake to date.

Nothing about this remake improves anything and it even doesn't take a risk. It's utterly shot-for-shot, which almost draws unfavorable and negative comparisons to the infamous Gus van Sant's 1998 remake of Psycho (a remake of the Alfred Hitchcock's 1960 Psycho), of which The Lion King original and the remake had the same story, with the remake giving no further improvement. The difference of the two, in terms of the technique, is that the original features traditional hand-drawn animation, whereas the remake features photorealistic CGI animation.

Another problem that The Lion King remake faces, is with the inability of the CGI lions to convey emotions and its difficult translation of its voice talents within the emotions of the CGI lions, which makes it difficult for audiences to relate to the lion characters' emotions and its expressions, which can turned towards uncanny valley.

Another problem within this remake have, comes with the voice acting performances and the results are truly underwhelming, to say the least. Donald Glover and Beyonce are seem to be miscasted as both Simba and Nala, and despite their incredible singing performances and particularly their rendition of "Can You Feel the Love Tonight" song, their voice acting comes as the weakest. Chiwetel Ejiofor tries to bring his unique style and menacing qualities as Scar but falls short to the more superior Jeremy Iron's Scar. John Oliver serves as a poor substitute for Rowan Atkinson as Zazu. Worse of all, Alfre Woodard's, John Kani's, Keegan-Michael Key's and Eric Andre's voice performances, were underutilized and wasted.

Still, The Lion King remake is not without its redeemable qualities. Even with the problems of the CGI lions in its difficult expression of emotions, much of the CGI qualities of the lions as well as other animals is featured as utterly realistic, which makes it the most mind-blowing CGI creations that the animals are featured into cinema, given the fact that the technology that was used in The Jungle Book was used to the higher degree within this remake, of which that use of the visual effects being displayed in this remake as groundbreaking.

Out of all the voice cast, only a few stand-out as the best; with Billy Eichner and Seth Rogen giving out their best chemistry and performances as Timon and Pumbaa, nearly stealing the whole show. Other stand-outs within the movie, were James Earl Jones as Mufasa (a performance that remains endearing and powerful, despite being oddly weary and underutilized), Florence Kasumba as Shenzi, JD McCrary and Shahadi Wright Joseph as both the younger versions of Simba and Nala.

In the end, The Lion King remake features no heart, vitality, spirit, magic, mysticism, and power that the original possesses, and is considered as inferior to the 1994 animated original. The Lion King remake is considered as a massive disappointment and will end up age horribly, whereas the 1994 animated original remains as a superior and timeless masterpiece that will remain to stand the test of time, and for generations to come. All the visual effects in the world cannot replace the pure Disney magic that was brought to life by the original entire cast and crew in the 1994 animated masterpiece.

After 11 years and with 22 films being released in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Avengers: Endgame reaches a satisfying and emotionally gut-wrenching conclusion that delivers a larger spectrum of heartbreaking, superb, and thrilling stakes and twists, combined with every powerful performances within the entire ensemble cast, a wide-ranging display of emotions and depth, a masterstroke screenplay, storytelling and direction, a suspenseful and thrilling musical score, and a coherent and nuanced visual effects, sound design, pacing and editing. Avengers Endgame ultimately serves as the shining pinnacle and an outstanding finale tribute to the Infinity Saga within the Marvel Cinematic Universe that all started with 2008's Iron Man.

While Black Panther remains as the unique, phenomenal, and inspirational masterpiece of the MCU and a cultural significance; Avengers: Endgame is something more of just being a masterpiece but a phenomenal legacy and a magnum opus, not just within the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but throughout the entire cinema, of all which it ties with other classical cinematic masterpieces with great endings such as The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi, and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2.

Without any doubt, Avengers: Endgame truly serves as the greatest superhero movie alongside Black Panther, Logan, and The Dark Knight, as well as the greatest movie that will forever defined pop culture and modern cinema in years and decades to come.

Peter Farrelly, who is mostly associated with his quirky, slightly offensive comedy and romantic comedy films that he usually directs with his fellow brother - Bobby, such as Dumb and Dumber and There's Something About Mary, makes a solo heartfelt, pragmatic and humanistic direction (that marks a stark contrast of his directions on the comedy) while tackling down difficult subject matters of racism into the filmmaking, making it as relevant to the today's divisive political background and at the same time, blending well with comedy into the narrative.

While the story is nothing short but meaningful, compelling, nuanced, and thought-provoking, it also resembled some similarity to Driving Miss Daisy, in which the narrative of a black driving for the white is now role-reversed with a white driving for the black, which is somehow problematic but is nevertheless outright entertaining. Furthermore, its display of an unconventional friendship between a black and white is also convincing.

But what truly serves as the film's shining quality was of the exceptional, charismatic and superb performances, and chemistry of Viggo Mortensen and Mahershala Ali in their performances of Tony Lip and Don Shirley, both of which really nailed the perfectly comedic timing as well as the earthly dramatic performances in every scene of which they dominate and can be summed up as a total knockout.

Yet, the film can't be described as truly perfect as it has its share of flaws, most particularly into the story's blatant historical inaccuracies, which focused onto the relationship of Shirley to his family and to Tony Lip that were being misinterpreted into the translation to the film, as well as its perceived white savior narrative. In addition, the story is also predictable especially to the third act. Other issues that plagued this film is mostly focused onto the pacing that can be uneven and quite dragging as well the editing which also looks uninteresting and cliched.

Still, the film is yet worth watching and makes it as an heartfelt and entertaining experience especially to any group of friends that can relate to its story and is no doubt serves as one of the best films of 2018.

Yorgos Lanthimos, who is responsible for some of the absurdist films such as Dogtooth and The Lobster, makes a tour-de-force and magnificently crafted direction with his renegade deviltry filmmaking that makes it as a wickedly brilliant and profound movie that blends well with historical period drama with comedy.

Much of the stellar yet gorgeous imagery and style of The Favourite can be attested to Robbie Ryan's brilliant cinematography, the grandiose production design, and Sandy Powell's surreal, meticulous and historically accurate costumes as well the detailed make-up and including a grand collection of classical music. But what truly summed up as the film's beating crowning jewel is an intricate story that features female empowerment with witty sensibilities and a compelling combination of LGBT themes and the accurate depiction of political power.

From the get-go, The Favourite truly shines in its profound glory with the three crowning jewels featured through the powerful and magnificent performance of Olivia Colman as Queen Anne, whose serves as the film's beating heart and are further boosted by the exceptional and charismatic performances of Rachel Weisz and Emma Stone, who makes the most of the glorious scenes that they've commit within the movie with witty style and eccentricities in an excellent way. Nicholas Hoult's performance is nothing short but wickedly hilarious and fascinating.

The Favourite makes a clear point of not just showing itself as a period drama with costumes as the centerpiece but makes a compelling yet fascinating story that take centerstage and display a range of elements from drama, comedy, and a biography, which blends well perfectly. The Favourite definitely can be stated as an apple of an eye and no doubt serves as a glorious masterpiece that any patrons of arthouse films can truly appreciate.

How the devil that this travesty existed in the first place with no one asking for another adaptation of Sherlock Holmes? Everything within this movie can be summed up as lazy, unfunny and incompetent at its very worst. The writing is just as miserably generic, clichéd and atrocious, the humor is downright-flat, the performances are terribly hammy and awful, not to mention wasting much of the remarkable talents of John C. Reilly, Rebecca Hall, Steve Coogan, Ralph Fiennes and Hugh Laurie, with some phoning it in for a paycheck. Will Ferrell gives a lousy yet incompetent performance, that can only stated as downright terrible. Worst, even the costumes and production design are terribly cheap-looking. Everything bad about this garbage makes it as unwatchable.

This travesty is gonna end up being the worst movies of 2018. Also, this movie is a downright insult to all the previous yet superior adaptations of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes, including the remarkable Guy Ritchie - Sherlock Holmes adaptations.

After 54 years of the 1964 original's debut, this sequel makes a practically perfect and glorious return that honors the spirit of the original with a topnotch lead performance from Emily Blunt as the titular character, in which the casting is just practically perfect in every way and makes her as a worthy successor to Julie Andrews in its handling of the iconic character. While Blunt's interpretation of Mary Poppins was merely different of what Julie Andrews portrayed in the original, it is just very marvelous for her to make the character her own by capturing the spirit and essence of the character within the P. L. Travers's novels.

The entire supporting cast have also delivered nothing short but remarkable, superb, and topnotch performances from Emily Mortimer, Julie Walters, Colin Firth, and Meryl Streep as well two legendary thespians; mostly, Dick van Dyke and Angela Lansbury. But what's really the major standouts within the movie apart from Emily Blunt would be Lin-Manuel Miranda in his spectacular and scene-stealing performance while bringing with his Hamilton signature style into the film, and Miranda's Cockney accent had to be a major improvement to the infamous Cockney accent of van Dyke in the original. Another noteworthy scene-stealing performances are mostly the child actors and actress that played the Banks children with adorable charm as well sensibilities and mostly, Ben Whishaw, who gives a emotional raw and nuanced performance, which he had to be major highlight of this film.

There are also technical aspects of this film that also elevate the greatness of the film's quality mostly from Sandy Powell's topnotch yet faithful recreation of the original costume designs, Marc Shaiman's terrific yet inherent music score, the grandiose recreation of its production design, but what's really the most incredible that this film delivered had to be the animated sequence that blends live-action and hand-drawn animation that pays a remarkable homage to the original's animated sequence and is no doubt one of the most visually imaginative and downright impressive being displayed in years since Who Framed Roger Rabbit.

However, the film itself had its share of flaws, most notably with the story which is a disappointment; considering the fact that David Magee, the screenwriter behind the Oscar-nominated screenplays of Finding Neverland and Life of Pi, was unable to craft a compelling yet nuanced screenplay that could have been elevated further but it plays very safe, which isn't helping much. Rob Marshall's direction had also tend to be mediocre and although, this film had to be Marshall's best work since Chicago, much of the imprint of his direction tend to be safe and some of his shot selections are uninspired, which drags the quality down. Another issue had to be the songs and while the songs are very catchy and are finely crafted, it lacks the memorability that these songs possesses in its comparison of the majestic 1964 original songs.

Yet nevertheless, this film makes a nostalgic and sensational cinematic experience for both children and adults as well to the fans of the original and especially to the musical admirers. While this film isn't gonna surpass the original, it is still a musical masterpiece that had a place on remarkable classic musicals such as A Star is Born (2018), La La Land, Moulin Rouge!, and etc. This film is definitely worth watching in every perfect way.

The biopic of British rock band, Queen and the lead, Freddie Mercury could have gone down as one of the greatest biopics but unfortunately it didn't give justice on the remarkable yet fascinating biography of its legendary rock band, especially its incandescent frontman, Freddie Mercury. Screenwriters Peter Morgan and Anthony McCarten, who's responsible for its remarkable and in-depth screenplays such as The Queen (2006), Frost/Nixon (2008), The Theory of Everything (2014), and Darkest Hour (2017), somehow had crafted a flawed and sanitized biopic screenplay that could have further explored an in-depth look on Freddie Mercury's character and biographical aspects particularly his relationships and homosexuality as well his AIDS diagnosis and death but ultimately fails miserably to convey it, and not to mention historical inaccuracies that bogs down the film itself. Even Bryan Singer's direction also falls flat in a uninspiring and clumsy way, considering the behind-the-scenes drama that could have single-handedly bring the film down, and some members of the cast (with exception of Rami Malek and Mike Myers) have also given an unmemorable and uninteresting performances. Even the pacing and editing are also sloppy and inconsistent. Still, the final product of the film also ended up creating a disservice on the legacy of the band and Mercury, himself.

On the brighter side, Rami Malek who was born to play Freddie Mercury truly transforms with a remarkable makeup as well the mustache, and nails it along with the mannerisms with an superb, electrifying, and magnetic performance with gravitas and bravado in which he redeems and elevate the film from its generic banality. Despite a limited screen-time, Mike Myers also makes an hilarious yet giggly cameo which highlighted the film's quality. Furthermore, the film has given a remarkable homage and celebration of Queen's iconic music and has done a wonderful work on recreating the dazzling Live Aid sequence especially the finale.

Despite the film's flaws and misconceptions, this is still worth enjoyable and watching for everyone; be as it might be, whether you're a die-hard Queen fan or not as it will rock everyone with hearts and inspiration.

As one quote from Queen to state it: "the show must go on".

Honestly, where to start with this beautiful travesty? Despite boasting a stellar talent and cast with the likes of Helen Mirren, Keira Knightley, and Morgan Freeman, this cinematic endeavor turns out to be an unholy and misguided collaboration, and points to everything wrong about this terrible and miscalculated adaptation.

First, the tone and the quality is clearly a rip-off to the other fantasy films that preceded it, such as the 2010 version of Alice in Wonderland, The Chronicles of Narnia, and The Wizard of Oz. The script is totally cliched, muddled, confusing, and convoluted, given the fact that the screenwriter of this film who is just a first-time inexperienced screenwriter, has no idea on how to blend well fantasy with other genres such as drama and adventure. Also, this film has major inconsistencies within the plot and are incoherent. Even the additional writing of Tom McCarthy is giving no redeemable favors. Even the dialogue is bland, boring, and flat. Much of the character development is also non-existent, and the characters itself are half-baked and dreadfully written. Another issue that this film have is the cheesy and campy tone that almost draws negative similarities with bad movies that have these similar qualities such as Batman & Robin, and 2003 adaptation of The Cat in the Hat.

Second, the acting is totally flat and atrocious. Despite Mackenzie Foy's very considerable effort in bringing depth to her performance, it simply resembled as uninspiring, flat, boring, and mediocre. Morgan Freeman and Helen Mirren have given a flat and terribly phoned-it-in performances, which is a major disappointment considering the two acting legends are one of the most exceptional and versatile acting talents in the acting business, and their performances are simply nothing but paycheck roles. Even Keira Knightley's performance is far from being terribly wasted, it's simply the worst. From the terribly yet laughable and cartoonish voice, monotone, and mannerisms that draws unfavorable comparisons to Helena Bonham Carter's whimsical style, this type of acting style does not work on Kiera Knightley's filmography and she's better off on handling roles of usual dramatic leading ladies of literature. Even the performances of Matthew Macfadyen, Misty Copeland, Eugenio Derbez and Richard E. Grant are simply useless and wasted.

Third, despite its stellar yet remarkable costumes, the production design, and the musical score; these aren't enough to redeem this fantasy misfire. It's just style over substance. Even the green screen within the film is terribly noticeable and the CGI is distracting. Worse, the film is hollow, bloated, flat, and soulless. It lacks the magic, charm, heart, and soul that the other superior Disney live-action fantasy films such as Into the Woods, Cinderella, Beauty and the Beast, The Jungle Book, Pete's Dragon and Christopher Robin, possesses. Even Alice in Wonderland and Maleficent which had a weak story, still had the same characteristics and are at least guilty-pleasure and redeemable. This film on the other hand is irredeemable from start to finish. It gets points for diversity but just like the ill-fated A Wrinkle in Time, much of its great ambition just falls flat and is arguably can be spelled as a disaster.

This is no doubt considered as one of Disney's worst fantasy film in many decades, and also a runner-up of the worst Nutcracker adaptation behind the abominable The Nutcracker the Untold story or The Nutcracker in 3D. Also, it's also considered one of this year's worst and disappointing films.

Without any further doubt, Bradley Cooper truly delivers a topnotch, riveting, and outstanding directorial debut and performance that clearly speaks of magnificence and greatness. Despite the fact that A Star is Born has been retold several times in its iteration from 1937, 1954, and 1976, the excellent screenplay and direction clearly shows an effective and superb storytelling that can make an devastating and powerful impact while making itself as fresh as its own that serves as a contemporary modern musical classic for the modern generation. Even its depiction of depression, addiction, mental issues as well fame are well accurately portrayed. Clearly, this film blends well with emotion, love, inspiration and sensibilities.

Lady Gaga is also incredibly remarkable within this film. Her knockout acting performance clearly blew anyone's minds and with her fantastic singing voice, elevates the great quality of the film. Sam Elliott has also given a memorable and exceptional performance. Even the chemistry of Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga are really off the charts and skyrocketed into a spectacular and amazing experience.

Another remarkable qualities that the film presented with is the realistic and colorful cinematography and masterful editing but what truly shines above it all is the music and the songs as it's considered as the heart and soul of the film.

This is definitely of the year's best film and will be worth remembered as a memorable musical masterpiece that will be a part of the classical musicals such as La La Land, Moulin Rouge!, and etc.

This is definitely the most disappointing and one of the worst superhero film since Batman & Robin, Catwoman, Fant4stic, and Suicide Squad. There are so things that get this film wrong and right.

For the wrong, the tone is completely inconsistent and all over the place. The film desperately tries to be gritty but turns to be a joke, and its attempt to blend in with sci-fi, superhero, and horror genres makes it convoluted and had a hard time seeking its identity. Even the CGI, editing, and pacing is laughably bad. The worst offender here had to be the script. From its clunky, bland and nonsensical plot to its terrible lines, dialogue and one-liners, it clearly shows the film's banality as well its toxic and venomous conditions.

Even the most charismatic and respectable actors are wasted in this film. Riz Ahmed is horrendously miscast, and combined with his hammy, stale and mediocre acting. The fantastic Michelle Williams is given no favors despite her very best in giving her performance of Anne Weying with depth and conviction but ultimately falls flat and is even forced to deliver a weak dialogue and acting.

On the other hand, here's what the film got right. Tom Hardy makes an excellent performance as Eddie Brock/Venom, which at least redeem its Venom portrayal from the horrendous Topher Grace performance of Venom in the terrible Spiderman 3. The dynamic and chemistry between Eddie Brock and Venom along with Hardy's performance are the only of the film's saving graces, but it's not enough to redeem this cyanide trainwreck.

The most disappointing of the film itself is the PG-13 rating, which effectively weakens the quality overall and even restrains its character development from going to its darker characteristics, which this film could have gone better with an R rating, considering the success of rated R superhero films such as the Deadpool films and Logan. Still, this is not the worthy adaptation that Venom character is truly deserves to and even the performance of Hardy as well its dynamic deserved better than this misfire.

With further success of the live-action adaptations of Cinderella, The Jungle Book, and Beauty and the Beast; Christopher Robin clearly doesn't disappoint everyone with a delightful and sweet story with a timeless classic of life-lessons that has been told in other films, along with a exceptional and sensible performances, remarkable CGI and animation as well a terrific musical score. Furthermore, the themes and quality of Christopher Robin also draws similarity with Paddington, Hook (in which the story quality and perspective to this film makes it better), Mary Poppins and Where the Wild Things Are.

Much of the exceptional and sensible performances lies within Ewan McGregor's portrayal of the titular character in which he nails the acting very well with comedy and drama. Even the newcomer Bronte Carmichael performance of the titular character's daughter makes the film more interesting. But what really makes a stand-out within this film was the classic voice performances of Jim Cummings as Winnie the Pooh and Tigger, and Brad Garrett as Eeyore, along with the superb voice acting performances of Nick Mohammed as Piglet, Peter Capaldi as Rabbit, Sophie Okonedo as Kanga, and Toby Jones as Owl.

The minor issues and flaws that affected this film was the issue on the pacing, editing and the other supporting characters being underutilized or otherwise, placing the supporting characters in the background.

Despite the fact that Christopher Robin live-action adaptation isn't groundbreaking and mind-blowing in comparison to the other live-action adaptations by Disney, it is still a worthy film to be enjoyed by children and families.

With Spike Lee's recent filmography making a disappointing and mediocre impression towards critics and audiences, BlacKkKansman is considered a glorious return to form for Spike Lee and without a doubt, one of the best films of the year and also a superior film that surpasses Spike Lee's other acclaimed films such as Do the Right Thing and Malcolm X. BlacKkKansman truly delivers an outrageous yet interesting true story that blends very well with funny one-liners and quips as well elements of comedy, in which that type of technique was previously used in The Wolf of Wall Street. Furthermore, it also adds a realistic yet accurate timely themes that tackles on the issue of racism, white supremacy, current events and divisive politics under Trump era that define the American perspective.

Apart from Spike Lee's masterful direction, this film is also defined by a shocking, compelling and riveting performances from John David Washington, Adam Driver and Topher Grace. Clearly, BlacKkKansman is a worthy film that allows an educational insight of showing America's current political moment as well the viewpoint of racial prejudices while at the time, making the film as funny and not as boring.

As much as the romantic comedy genre has been declining over the last decades, Crazy Rich Asian clearly brings back and restore the rom-com genre with a terrific and compelling performances from Constance Wu, Henry Golding as well the ensemble cast but what clearly makes it fascinating and great, was the scene-stealing and stand-out performances from Awkwafina and Ken Jeong. Even a layered and nuanced performance from Michelle Yeoh, elevates the great quality of the film. Furthermore, Crazy Rich Asians is also one of the best rom-coms films since Bridesmaids, Father of the Bride, Bridget Jones's Diary, Love Actually, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, and 500 Days of Summer. In addition, it also delivers a worthy film adaptation of Kevin Kwan's novel that Jon M. Chu brings to the table. The production design, costume design as well the editing are also magnificent and outstanding. Even Chu's direction as well as Peter Chiarelli's and Adele Lim's screenplay is also stellar and fascinating, which almost draws comparison to Richard Curtis's direction and screenplay from Love Actually and even some comedic elements to Bridesmaids.

The greatest contribution that Crazy Rich Asians had also delivered is the wide representation of an Asian cast within the Hollywood film and is also the first film to feature Asian actors and actresses in over 25 years since The Joy Luck Club. It also creates another major milestone for representation as well a cultural phenomenon, and cultural and iconic legacy with the success for Black Panther for its major representation for blacks as well Wonder Woman for its major representation for women.

Alexander Payne, responsible for its wonderful and memorable films such as Election (1999), The Descendants (2011), and Nebraska (2013); could have made Downsizing something original and unique but truly fails miserably in every level to combine several genres and themes with science fiction mixed with comedy and drama and even applying the relevant social issues such as climate change and overpopulation, which all of the ambitious premises turned into a wasted potential, and an overstuffed and nonsensical mess from the get-go. Even the production design is unmemorable and ridiculous with the CGI also makes it unrealistic and a sore to the eyes and worst thing is that the this movie could offer is that the pacing along with a messy editing makes this film into a total snoozefest.

Almost every member of the cast is also wasted on this movie. Matt Damon tries his very best in making his role relatable and likable to the audiences but instead features it as an racist, misogynist and an unsympathetic caricature of his performance combined with hammy and terrible acting. Even Christoph Waltz, Kirsten Wiig, and Jason Sudeikis are also terribly wasted and underutilized.

The only silver lining and redeemable quality of this film was the stellar, complex, and scene-stealing performance of Hong Chau while also remarkably breaking the Asian stereotype. But still, her performance couldn't redeem a forgettable-sizing wreck and making this film the worst in Alexander Payne's illustrious career.

After a decade of the release of the original The Incredibles, Incredibles 2 is the long-deserving sequel that truly delivers and exceeds expectations that will satisfy everyone in an incredible and fantastic way. Just like the original, the story is once again great and fascinating, with the theme and dynamics of family amplified further in making a story as wonderful and powerful as ever and in addition, the humor and the dialogue is superb. In the days when the superhero film genre dominate the entire film medium, Incredibles 2 is worthy companion piece. In regards to the visuals and animation, Pixar has once again impressed everyone with their state of the art technology in creating such stunning visuals and animation that never ages in time.

However, there are some flaws that can be noticed: The villain is totally cliched along its motivations which is a disappointment considering the fact that the original features a unique and memorable villain that is one of the main highlight of the original and within this sequel, this villain is forgettable and bland. Another flaw of the movie was the pacing which comes off the rails and sometimes affect the quality of this film. Lastly is the overuse and oversaturation of flashy lights within the animation which causes major headaches and severe seizure especially to those that have epilepsy and the ones who have photosensitivity issues.

Despite of this flaws, Incredibles 2 is simply fun and adventurous and is definitely worth the time for everyone to enjoy and just considered one of the best movies of 2018 so far.

As much as Damien Chazelle has impressed everyone with his riveting and compelling direction from Whiplash, it shows that he delivers an authentic, dazzling, compelling and outstanding musical masterpiece that delivers with a heart, depth, and soul. From a brilliant screenplay that resonates everyone with the theme of passion, love, dreams, and inspiration that forms an intimate connection in real life; the powerful acting and its performances, the astonishing and sensible direction until the memorable musical score and pieces, La La Land is truly the embodiment of a classic cinema that nails its perfection from start to finish.

Even the memorable, amazing and wonderful performances of Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling as well a perfect chemistry, a magnificent choreography and its gorgeous costume and production designs as well a breathtaking and sumptuous cinematography, brilliant editing, and a refreshing and touching musical score by Justin Hurwitz and its catchy musical songs perfectly composed by Pasek & Paul duo makes the experience of seeing La La Land a nostalgic experience, a feast for the eyes and a pleasurable hearing to the ears.

While La La Land draws its inspiration and homages to the classic Hollywood musicals of old, it stands out as a unique musical while making the musical film genre revitalized as fresh and new that also helps inspire other modern-day musical films for years to come and making La La Land as a modern classic for all ages.

As much as the Marvel Cinematic Universe has a consistently good track record with each entry that has scored good rating even it has its flaws and error yet Black Panther truly soars as a unique superhero film that blends well with artistic styles, great action as well a great story that takes inspiration and similarities from the Shakespeare's Hamlet as well elements from The Lion King and its political narrative from the underrated The Last Samurai. Clearly, the screenplay by Ryan Coogler and Joe Robert Cole was truly a great story and the most unique and intriguing pieces of cinema. Even Ryan Coogler's sensible, intense, stylistic and realistic direction and storytelling which draws its similarities to Christopher Nolan's Batman Begins as well Ryan Coogler's aesthetics to his previous films such as Fruitvale Station and Creed truly makes this film unique and compelling.

What makes Black Panther one of the best films of 2018 was the great, compelling and memorable performances from the ensemble cast which singles out Chadwick Boseman, Michael B. Jordan, Lupita Nyong'o, Danai Guirira, and Letitia Wright as one of the major stand-outs. This is also a major milestone for cinema to featured black actors and actresses as the main cast which signals a good step in a right direction for representation and diversity as well creating a cultural phenomenon just like what Wonder Woman has achieved for in its major representation for women. Even the breathtaking cinematography, production and costume designs also makes it a great experience and a feast to the eyes.

Just like every film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Black Panther also had its flaws, mostly the CGI effects which was noticeable and has its issues on pacing but nevertheless Black Panther will be no doubt serve in its place as one of the greatest superhero films in cinema history alongside The Dark Knight, Superman (1978 film), and Wonder Woman and has also further transcended the superhero genre in a whole new level as well cemented its cultural and iconic legacy.

As much as The Greatest Showman delivers greater performances particularly from most of the cast with the likes of Hugh Jackman (who never disappoints), Zac Efron, Keala Seattle, Zendaya, Michelle Williams and others and even the music and soundtrack that was supposedly to be looking and sounding as "superb", this movie suffers a greater let-down and a wrecking mess in which greater performances from the cast couldn't redeem it.

First of all, the direction is really off the rails given the fact that the film's director Michael Gracey whose track record was based on directing music videos was unable to deliver a solid direction that could have made the film more livid and intriguing, and not to mentioned it's stale, weak and mediocre and coming off as a Baz Luhrmann-Moulin Rouge style knock-off. Second, the writing is rifled with major historical inaccuracies considering that this film is based on a true story of P. T. Barnum and his circus and its depiction of the story made it uninspired, inaccurate and at worse, erroneous given the main character's background being seen with darker and questionable history and even dreadfully ignored the circus' dark past in favor of a fictitious cringeworthy and shmaltzy depiction. Worse, this film's plot is convoluted and nonsensical. To add insult to injury, the terrible racist depictions of stereotypes are all over the place and its message of inclusivity and diversity are horribly forced and fake, to the point it comes off as insulting and degrading to the audiences' intelligence and minds.

Third has to do with another questionable performance from Rebecca Ferguson whose portrayal of Jenny Lind whose character was considered to be as the "Swedish Nightingale", suffers a glaring issue within its characterization and its portrayal, particularly with the singing voice despite the fact that the singing voice was being dubbed by Loren Allred and not by Ferguson, who didn't commit herself to singing on her own and while her acting is still appreciated, the singing voice made it another additional problem for the film's historical inaccuracies.

Fourth, despite its solid cinematography and choreography; the film really came out as style over substance (of which the style really comes off as ironically awful), favoring performances as well artful and artistic merits over story, depth and character development, making this film a flashy and a disappointing mess. Even the editing and the pacing made it more dreadfully convoluted, confusing and dull, as well as hard to watch, and not to mentioned that despite the film's intriguing costume and production design, its designs came off as unreal, awkward, cheap-looking and pantomime, and not in a good way. Another terrible thing would be that the CGI in the movie, is also terrible-looking, fake, and unconvincing .

Lastly, what's so disappointing and perplexing is that the Pasek & Paul duo made a disappointing contribution to this film and not to mentioned that they've really dropped a ball on this movie with the songs and the music (following their great track record for La La Land) and much of these songs they've written in this movie (despite these songs were entertaining), really comes off as totally generic, bland, fake, forced, contrived, forgettable, and at worse, very terribly annoying. Even "This is Me" song is also considered as forgettable, forced, fake, overproduced, over-egged, stupid, and idiotic, despite the ironic fact that it's supposed to serve as an anthem for the prejudiced and disabled, which is just only seen as utterly laughable and cringeworthy.

Clearly, The Greatest Showman is truly a dishonorable, disgraceful and terribly a laughing stock to the contribution of the revival of contemporary musical films and really an abominable travesty to the superior La La Land and other great musicals including Moulin Rouge!, Chicago, and Dreamgirls.

With all these problems that's plaguing the film's quality, this film is definitely not recommended to be seen even if anyone loved this film's music and soundtrack but honestly speaking that The Greatest Showman in its soundtrack is considered the worst soundtrack being made in this decade.

How could this movie with an accomplished director Ava DuVernay and Jennifer Lee, the screenwriter behind the wonderful animated films like Wreck-It Ralph, Frozen and Zootopia as well a beloved yet brillant source material by Madeleine L'Engle turn this adaptation into a beautiful yet disappointing mess? Truly all of this expectations for this film turned into a great let-down.

Even a well studded cast is unable to save this wreck. Worse is that the dialogue, character development, the overuse of CGI and the convoluted plot is making it a major disappointment of 2018. Even the acting is not good with one that goes unnatural like Mindy Kaling and Zach Galifianakis while Reese Witherspoon's and Deric McCabe's acting goes over the top and very annoying and even Oprah Winfrey comes as total bland and boring.

The only redeeming qualities is that film contains empowering messages as well a great statement to diversity and feminism as well the performances of Storm Reid, Gugu Mbatha-Raw and Chris Pine which are the only saving graces. A Wrinkle in Time should have been the next Wonder Woman. It's a big shame that all of the great intentions were given a waste of time, effort and talent.

Lastly, it is clear that the adaptations of sci-fi genre cannot work for Disney as demonstrated in the previous sci-fi adaptations that failed before such as Tomorrowland, Tron: Legacy, and John Carter.

Guillermo del Toro delivers a stunning and beautiful masterpiece that truly stands out as his shining crown of his filmography with wonderful writing and directing as well its stunning visuals and production merits and a refreshing original score crafted with heart by Alexandre Desplat.

Even the performances of all the entire cast are truly amazing. The main stand out of the performances mostly, Sally Hawkins, Richard Jenkins and Octavia Spencer delivers a compelling performances that makes this film an apple of the eye.

Despite the fact that The Shape of Water draws similarities with Beauty and the Beast and with a combination of its themes from Creature from the Black Lagoon, this film is a worthy companion piece that speaks of passionate and unrequited love with no divided boundaries or prejudice.

Truly Greta Gerwig's directorial debut was so topnotch that justifies a proof that female directors had the capabilities of what male directors can accomplished. With an excellent writing and directing as well a wonderful performances of the ensemble cast but most importantly the highlighted performances of Saoirse Ronan and Laurie Metcalf, it truly brings a wonderful charm, heart and sensibilities of a great storytelling and even blends in comedy, drama and romance.

In addition, Lady Bird is also a film fit for every family facing of the life's struggles and the harsh open reality, an inspiring film for teenagers and young adults as well a great feminist film. This is definitely an inspiring masterpiece of all the ages.

This is definitely the most wonderful animated masterpiece that Pixar has ever delivered since Toy Story and given the fact that it is the first musical being created by Pixar, it is also one of the kind.

In addition, Coco really delivered a touching, emotional and warm tone and depth, an effective story as well the importance of diversity and most importantly its theme particularly family and passion of music, which really exemplifies Pixar and Disney as one of the best animation companies. By a way of a good message, Coco is really a love letter to Mexico.

With its sumptuous visuals and its realism displayed in an animated film, truly it is a feast to the eyes and in addition a wonderful and memorable song pieces by the composers behind the wonderful Frozen, such song pieces particularly the main song will definitely give a satisfying touch and heart.

This heartwarming masterpiece should really encouraged for everyone (whether child or adult) to see it.

Truly, Denis Villeneuve has created a astonishing and an iconic masterpiece that really lives up to the original Blade Runner while making this film to be a new classic and indeed Villeneuve shows a bombastic direction just how he did to his other films such as Sicario and Arrival. While the performances of every member of the cast particularly Robin Wright as well Jared Leto is impressive, Ryan Gosling and Harrison Ford really stand out as one of the best performances being delivered.

Another great quality being displayed towards the film is the excellent cinematography masterfully crafted by Roger Deakins in which a long awaited Academy Award is just within his hand as well the brilliant and nostalgic musical score wonderfully done by Hans Zimmer and Benjamin Wallfisch while maintaining Vangelis' original musical thematic legacy.

But what really surpassed it all is the colorful visual effects that will be at par with other great movies with excellent visual effects such as Avatar, Gravity, Hugo, Life of Pi, The Matrix and The Jungle Book 2016 live-action remake.

Overall, all these great qualities being mentioned will be no doubt consider Blade Runner 2049 as the best movie of the year as well a classic to be remembered with in decades to come.