Movie Reviews

Jon Favreau’s live-action version of The Jungle Book had my jaw on the floor for the entire 105 minute run time.  This movie is spectacular in every way.  The visuals are astoundingly beautiful with great use of 3-D, the action is exciting, and the story is better and darker than the original animated film, yet still keeps the films spirit perfectly. Mowgli (newcomer Neel Sethi), a man-cub living amongst the wolves, tries to flee the jungle after a threat…

I’ve been attending the Sundance Film Festival since 2011.  Every year before the festival begins, I make a list of my most anticipated movies of the festival.  This list is based on a combination of the who the director is, who the actors are, and the film’s synopsis, because none of the films have trailers.  I usually end up seeing my top five choices because I make the time for those, but there are always…

The Boss is a combination of the best and worst of Melissa McCarthy.  On the one hand, it’s more over the top annoyance from McCarthy that we’ve seen in films like Identity Thief (2013) and Tammy (2014).  On the other hand, we get some great comedic moments and McCarthy once again owning her character like she has in Bridesmaids (2011), The Heat (2013), and Spy (2015).  Fortunately, The Boss is more of the later than the former, which makes for a mildly entertaining, yet sometimes ridiculous…

Sometimes you see a movie that just hits you.  Whether it’s because you can relate to the story, relate to a character, or just connect with a performance, there are certain movies that just resonate with you.  For some reason, Demolition was one of those movies for me.  I was watching this movie and as the it was going I kept thinking, “I totally get that.” I don’t know why either.  I can’t relate to the plot,…

I’ll admit, I have a slight soft spot for Jeff Nichols.  My first year at the Sundance Film Festival back in 2011, his film, Take Shelter, was the first film that I saw at the festival that blew me away and set the standard for what a good Sundance movie was and still is for me.  From that point on, I’ve loved him as a filmmaker.  He has elevated his talents and grown as a writer…

I’ve seen a lot of movies in my life.  I’ve seen good movies, bad movies, funny movies, sad movies, scary movies, all sorts of movies.  Movies today rarely surprise me or show me something new.  Sure, we get movies like Gravity (2013) and Birdman (2014) that blow us all away and push the boundaries of filmmaking to another level, but for a majority of films, whatever they’re trying to do has already been done.  Not saying that’s a bad thing, it…

Director Richard Linkater called his latest film a spiritual sequel to Dazed and Confused (1993).  Seeing as Dazed and Confused is one of my favorite movies all-time, the bar was set extremely high for Everybody Wants Some!!.  It gives me great pleasure to say that Everybody Wants Some! hits that bar.  This is a funny, sweet, heartfelt nostalgia piece and another great Linklater moment. Everybody Wants Some!! follows a college baseball team in Texas the weekend before classes start.  We watch…

It’s really hard to not get excited about a movie that has Batman and Superman in it.  Never before have the two comic book giants graced the screen together and now, thanks to Zack Snyder, we finally get to see the two titans go at it.  Unfortunately, the feeling of excitement quickly diminishes and turns to anger and hope.  Anger at what I am watching and hope that it gets better.  Batman v Superman: Dawn…

Allegiant is the third installment of the Divergent series following Divergent (2014) and Insurgent (2015).  And, much like most YA adaptations nowadays, the studios decided to split the final entry of the series into two movies.  So far, splitting the final chapter into two has not panned out so well.  Harry Potter and Deathly Hallows: Part I (2010) was boring but Deathly Hallows: Part II (2011) was extraordinary.  The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 (2014) and Part 2 (2015) both suffered from redundancy and lack…

I am going to give this review without giving too much away because 10 Cloverfield Lane is a movie that you need to see with as little information about the movie as possible when going in. Thanks in large part to a brilliant marketing campaign with stellar trailers, 10 Cloverfield Lane is, much like the last movie with word ‘Cloverfield’ in the title, a giant mystery.  Nobody really knows what is going on and that makes for one a thrilling,…