Movie Reviews

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…

I grew up reading the Goosebumps books.  They were fun, creepy, and well written.  The idea of a Goosebumps movie had me intrigued and worried because this isn’t an exact adaptation of one specific book, which was fine because they did those very well with the television show.  However, every creature from every book is in this movie and I was worried it was going to be a cheesy kids flick with Marvel syndrome of…

Let’s pretend you hate strawberries.  Now let’s pretend someone takes a bunch of strawberries and makes them look all fancy with chocolate, and some fancy sauce, and makes the strawberries look unrecognizable.  You see this fancy treat and you get excited like, “Oh, that looks good.”  And then you take a bite and realize it is a strawberry, becoming immediately disappointed because you hate it.  You put the strawberry down and look at the others and…

The 2010’s have not been kind to director Sir Ridley Scott.  After having a great 2000’s with films like Gladiator (2000), Black Hawk Down (2001), the underrated Matchstick Men (2003) and American Gangster (2007), Scott has made some of the worst films of his career this decade.  With the films Robin Hood (2010), Prometheus (2012), The Counselor (2013), and Exodus: Gods and Kings (2014), Scott has received some of the worst reviews and box office…