Sunday, July 30, 2017

Beatriz at Dinner

Plot:
Beatriz (Selma Hayek), a holistic healer, finds herself attending the dinner party of a wealthy client after her car breaks down. 

Pros:
•A fascinating, well written story that is so relevant in today's world. 
•Good direction by Miguel Arteta. Everything from the way he focuses the camera to the music and more only adds to the tension of the situation. Really made me feel like I was there. 
•Selma Hayek gives her best performance ever in my opinion. I know it's way too early but I'd love to see her get nominated come award season. I also loved the back and forth between her and John Lithgow (who is also really good in this). 
•Sharp, cleaver dialogue. 

Cons:
•The ending. If it wasn't for this it would be a damn near perfect movie. All I'll say is I wish the director had the balls to go with what he appeared to set up but instead we got a cop out. Not that it was bad or anything I just felt a little disappointed. 

My Rating: 8.5/10

Sunday, July 23, 2017

The Big Sick

Plot:
Kumail is a stand up comedian who meets Emily (Zoe Kazan) and the two begin dating. As their relationship grows they must deal with their cultural differences and an unexpected event. 

Pros:
•Kumail Nanjiani was really good. Up until I saw this movie I hadn't seen much of his work. He's got great comedic timing of course but he handles the dramatic moments well too. There's some really touching moments in this movie and he just nails it. 
•While I enjoyed the scenes with Kumail and Emily and thought they had a lot of chemistry, probably my favorite moments were the ones where Kumail was bonding with Emily's parents. 
•Clever dialogue. 
•Laughs worked and never felt forced. 
•An honest look at relationships. 

Cons:
•Got off to a slow start in my opinion. Not that it was bad I just wasn't feeling it at first. As weird as it might sound, things really started to pick up for me once Emily went into a coma (they tell you this in the trailer so I don't consider it a spoiler). 

My Rating: 8.5/10

Paris Can Wait

Plot:
Anne (Diane Lane) is the wife of a successful movie producer (Alec Baldwin). One day she unexpectedly finds herself on a car trip from Cannes to Paris with one of her husband's business associates named Jacques (Arnaud Viard). 

Pros:
•Diane Lane is wonderful as always. 
•So much food and wine porn! Do not watch this movie on an empty stomach. 
•Beautiful locations. Makes you really feel like you're driving around France. 
•Moves at a slow pace but I never felt like I wanted to fall asleep. 
•Perfect movie to take your Mom or Grandmother to. 
•Directorial debut of Eleanor Coppola, wife of Francis Ford Coppola. She does a decent job and the story is apparently loosely based on an experience she had with her husband's business partner. 

Cons:
•Very simply story that plays it a little too safe. 
•For the most part the character of Jacques was completely insufferable. 
•A few rough spots with the editing. 
•Didn't really care for the ending. 

My Rating: 6.5/10

Friday, July 21, 2017

Dunkirk (IMAX)

Plot:
Based on the incredible true story of the evacuation of soldiers from the beaches and harbor of Dunkirk, France. 

Pros:
•Nolan has done it again! I was curious how he would tackle something that wasn't science fiction or a Batman movie, and he didn't disappoint. He truly is one of the greatest film makers out there. 
•Very impressed that he chose to use a lot of practical effects. 
•If you have an IMAX screen anywhere near you I highly recommend you see it in that format. This is the type of movie that it was made for. 
•One of the most gorgeous looking movies I've ever seen. 
•Sound mixing was incredible. The Academy might as well give them the Oscar for it now. 
•Acting was great. The ones that really stood out to me were Mark Rylance and, of course, my man Tom Hardy ;) Hell even Harry Styles was decent which I wasn't expecting. 
•It's nonstop tension from beginning to end. There were several moments where I could feel my heart pounding in my chest. 
•Edited so flawlessly that I wasn't confused much at all in terms of the movie being nonlinear. 
•If you're a fan of World War II movies you're going to love this. 

Cons:
•If there had just been a little more character development this would've been a perfect movie for me. I totally get what Nolan was going for and didn't need an entire backstory on everyone, but still. This is a very minor complaint however. Certainly nothing that should stop you from seeing the movie. 

My Rating: 9.5/10

Sunday, July 16, 2017

Moka

Plot:
A grieving mother goes in pursuit of the couple she believes killed her son in a hit and run. 

Pros:
•Very strong performance by Emmanuelle Devos. Hadn't heard of her before this, but I'm interested in seeing more of her work. 
•Supporting cast was good as well. 
•Nice locations. 
•Story wasn't quite as predictable as I thought it might be. 
•Deeply moving ending. 
•Doesn't always rely on dialogue, especially in the beginning. Sometimes a simple look between two characters works more effectively. 

Cons:
•A few rough spots with the editing. 
•Ending dragged on a bit too long. 
•While it's an interesting story, it's not something we haven't seen done a million times before. 

My Rating: 7/10

Friday, July 14, 2017

War for the Planet of the Apes

Plot:
Caesar (Andy Serkis) is forced into a deadly battle  against an army of humans led by The Colonel (Woody Harrelson). This battle will determine the fate of both species. 

Pros:
•Wow!! I know it's still early, but this was easily the best movie I've seen this year. An amazing conclusion to what I think is one of the best trilogies ever. 
•Groundbreaking visual effects. It's amazing to see how far we've come along in this department. It looks so real and to be honest, all the motion capture actors here gave way better performances than others that you physically see on screen. Speaking of which...
•When is the Academy going to wake the fuck up and give Andy Serkis the recognition he deserves. Motion capture IS acting. 
•It's been amazing to watch the character of Caesar grow from who he was in the first movie to this one. It makes sense for his character to end up where he did. 
•You would think a movie with the word War in the title would be nothing but action but while there are some great action sequences, there's plenty of quiet, dramatic scenes as well. Some of which have no dialogue. Not many movies could pull it off but this one does. 
•One actor that surprised me was Steve Zahn (an actor who I haven't always been the biggest fan of) as Bad Ape. His character is technically the comic relief but it's never over the top or takes you out of the movie. But I never laughed for too long because you can tell that Bad Ape has been through so much and I felt sorry for him. I teared up quite a bit during his scenes. This whole movie was really an emotional punch in the gut. I dare anyone to watch it and not cry. 
•Woody Harrelson was not the stereotypical villain I feared he would be. There's just enough depth to his character. Always been one of my favorite actors. 
•THIS is how you do a proper reboot. Movie studios take note. 
•Strong directing by Matt Reves. 
•Almost two and a half hours but it sure didn't feel like it. My eyes were glued to the screen the entire time. 
•There's so much more I want to say but I don't want to spoil this wonderful movie. 

Cons:
•NONE!! Everyone stop what you're doing and go see this. You won't regret it. 

My Rating: 10/10

Sunday, July 9, 2017

Obit

Plot:
Documentary about the New York Times obituary writers. 

Pros:
•Going into this movie I figured the obituary writers would be slightly odd and morbid but they weren't. They're just normal people doing their job. 
•It was interesting to see just what goes into writing an obituary- interviewing family members, research, deciding how long/short it should be, what if any pictures to use etc. Sometimes they have awhile to write them (in certain cases they write them years in advanced for celebrities who are getting up there in years or whose lifestyle might send them to an early grave) and other times it must be done quickly. For example, they talk about how Michael Jackson died in the late afternoon. Because of that, they only had about four hours to sum up his entire life. 
•Decently paced. 

Cons:
•While I thought this movie was pretty good, it does follow the standard things you see in a typical documentary and doesn't try to set itself apart. 
•Unless you're really interesting in this subject, I wouldn't really suggest seeing this in theaters. If you're bored on a Saturday afternoon and there's nothing else better on, watch this on tv or Netflix. 

My Rating: 6.5/10

Friday, July 7, 2017

Spider-Man: Homecoming

SPOILER ALERT: There's a few mild spoilers in my review but nothing major. 

Plot:
With help from his mentor Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.), Peter Parker (Tom Holland) balances his life between being a high school student and his role as Spider-Man. To add to everything, a new threat Vulture (Michael Keaton) emerges. 

Pros:
•Tom Holland is the best version of Spider-Man I've seen. Yes, even better than Toby MacGuire. For one, he actually looks like a high schooler. Also, he was able to play both Peter Parker and Spider-Man very well. In the past it's been either one or the other. 
•I was worried, judging from the trailers, that this would be the Tony Stark/Iron Man show but it's really not. RDJ is only in maybe a handful of scenes but all of them were great. I love the mentor/father figure role he's developed with Peter. You can tell he cares for the kid, in a Tony Stark way of course. 
•Humor really worked. I laughed quite a bit in this. 
•Michael Keaton was amazing as Vulture. Good Marvel villains don't come along too often. His character wasn't just evil for the sake of being evil. You get his back story and you completely understand his motivation for what he's doing and what lead him to this point. 
•There's two post credit scenes and both I enjoyed. The second one was especially brilliant. 
•Looks great in IMAX (the 3D was barely noticeable at times though)
•Didn't have to see Uncle Ben being murdered for the millionth time. 

Cons:
•Dragged a bit in spots. 
•A few cheesy moments in the final showdown. However, it wasn't quite as bad as the showdown in Wonder Woman. 

My Rating: 9/10