Movie Reviews

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,…

London Has Fallen is complete chaos.  It’s a no-holds-barred, adrenalin fueled action flick that is as violent as it is stupid. When the London Prime Minister dies, it brings all the world leaders to the funeral, including the American President, Benjamin Asher (Aaron Eckhart).  During the funeral, there is an attack on London attempting to kill all the world leaders.  It is now up to Asher’s number one agent Mike Banning (Gerard Butler) to keep…

Zootopia has been advertised in the trailers as this cute little comedy about a universe where animals live together.  This movie is way more than that.  This is a crime film with twists and turns that is filled with rich characters and police drama and deep meanings about stereotyping, all while being an incredibly entertaining and fun children’s film. Zootopia tells the story of a small town bunny named Judy Hopps (voiced by Ginnifer Goodwin).  Judy…

The term Whiskey Tango Foxtrot is a military saying that, when using NATO phonetic, spells out WTF, which means exactly what you think it does, “What the Fuck”.  This was a very appropriate title for movie, as I said those three words to myself quite a few times during this uneven, redundant war comedy. Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, based on the autobiographical book “The Taliban Shuffle: Strange Days in Afghanistan and Pakistan” by Kim Barker, is about…

Some people like Terrance Malick.  I am not one of those people.  I liked The Thin Red Line (1998), but that’s the only film of his I can tolerate.  I think his films are pretty to look at, but are too complicated for no reason.  I went into Knight of Cups with a little bit more faith than I usually have for a Malick film, mostly because of the cast. Much to my surprise, this…