Movie Reviews

In Creed, Adonis Creed (Michael B. Jordan), son of legendary boxer Apollo Creed (played by Carl Weathers in the original Rocky movies), tries to break free from his father’s shadow while also using what he knows as a fighter and about his father to guide him to greatness. You can say the movie itself is fighting a similar battle.  Creed is trying to be its own special movie and reinvent the Rocky series, yet not without keeping…

This is not a Christmas movie you see with your grandmother.  The Night Before is a raucous, debaucherous, drug-fueled Christmas movie in the same vein and sub-genre as Bad Santa (2003) and A Very Harold and Kumar Christmas (2011).  But what The Night Before has more than either of those films is heart.  The movie might be filled with bad language, drugs, and sex, but at the core, it is a sweet and touching film…

All the President’s Men (1976) is a landmark in film history.  It is a well-acted, perfectly paced, cinematic masterpiece about journalism and un-checked power.  It showed how important it was to get a story out there even when the most powerful people in the world are trying to stop it.  It also focused on a socially relevant issue that was still fresh in the minds of the American people.   Everything I said about All the…

The Hunger Games has finally come to an end.  Since coming to the screen in 2012, we have followed Katniss Everdeen and her growth as a leader to fight against The Capitol and a love triangle she can’t seem to figure out.  The first two films, The Huger Games (2012) and The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (2013), were both extremely entertaining films and ones I thoroughly enjoyed.  However, the studio made the decision to split the third book,…

The last couple snap reviews, which you can check out here and here, were more independent, unknown movies.  Here are some of the bigger Hollywood releases that I have seen over the last month.  Some pretty great films are on this list. You can watch each movie’s trailer by clicking on the title.   The Assassin (Hsiao-Hsien Hou) I had such high hopes for The Assassin.  After winning Best Director at this years Cannes Film Festival and…

Continuing to play catchup with my reviews, here are some more snap reviews.  I’m almost done, I swear. You can watch the trailers for all the films by clicking on the title.   Cash Only (Malik Bader) The streets of Detroit haven’t been this dirty and gritty since 8 Mile (2002).  Cash Only takes us on wild and violent ride as one man tries to get back the only thing he cares about after he makes a…

Between going to the movies, working full-time, and attempting to have a life, I have fallen behind on some reviews.  So instead of writing up full reviews for all of these movies, I am going to do quick, one or two paragraph reviews of some of the movies I have seen recently which I will call Snap Reviews.  For these movies, I am going to focus on some of the movies that I saw at…

Spectre was my eighth most anticipated movie of 2015.  I loved Casino Royale (2006) and enjoyed Quantum of Solace (2008) and Skyfall (2012) and couldn’t wait to see what this installment had in store, especially when they casted Christoph Waltz as the main villain.  And while Spectre isn’t the film I had hoped it would be, it is still a thrilling, compelling, epic spy film. Following the events of the Skyfall mission, James Bond (Daniel…

Room is the most emotional movie going experience I have had all year.  It is a heartwarming and heartbreaking tale of hope, perseverance, and awakenings.  It is filled with tension, raw emotion, sadness, and joy and features two dazzling performances from two young, talented actors. Room, adapted from the novel by Emma Donaghue, is told through the eyes of five year old Jack (newcomer Ethan Tremblay).  He and his mother, Ma, (Brie Larson) are enclosed in…

In my review for Sicario (check it out here), I wrote how it was hard for a director to follow up a masterpiece.  The same can be said for a screenwriter.  Aaron Sorkin’s last solo screenplay was for The Social Network in 2010.  (He co-wrote Moneyball in 2011 with Steve Zaillian).  The Social Network is an all-timer for me.  It is expertly crafted and acted and captures the state of communication and technology in today’s…