Darkest Hour

Plot:

During the early days of World War II, newly appointed Prime Minister Winston Churchill (Gary Oldman) must decide wether to negotiate a peace treaty with Hitler or stand firm and fight. 

Pros:

•I’m a huge fan of British period pieces. And one starring the great Gary Oldman? Sign me up! I’ve been wanting to see this movie for awhile now and it did not disappoint. 

•Gary Oldman completely transforms himself and delivers an Oscar worthy performance. I really think he’s going to win this year. When I was watching this, especially whenever he would give a speech, I didn’t see him- I saw Winston Churchill. 

•Strong supporting cast, I especially enjoyed Lily Evans who plays Churchill’s secretary. 

•Director Joe Wright once again nails done the look and feel of the time period. 

Cons:

•Does drag a bit in a few spots. 

•This is just a minor nitpick but every so often on the screen in very large letters they would put the date the events were taking place. Completely unnecessary. 

•Ends rather abruptly. I understand why they chose to end it there but still, I would’ve liked to have seen a bit more. 

My Rating: 8.5/10

Sicario

I know what many of you must be thinking. WHAT??? How the fuck have you not seen this movie yet? Trust me, I've had plenty of friends ask me that over the last three years. Hell I'm surprised I haven't watched this sooner since I absolutely love crime thrillers. But I promised myself that the next time the movie was on a streaming service I would watch it. Sure enough, it recently popped up on Amazon so here we are. 

This is going to be a super short since most people have seen this movie by now. Just wanted to give a couple of quick thoughts. 

So what did I think? Well honestly.... IT'S FUCKING AMAZING!! Why oh why did I wait so long? Holy shit. 

I've quickly become a huge fan of both director Denis Villeneuve and writer Taylor Sheridan. Here they once again have created this amazing story that sucks you into this world right from the very beginning. They waste no time dropping you in on the action, which doesn't shy away from some pretty brutal violence. I also enjoyed the stunning cinematography and the way certain scenes were filmed in night/thermal vision which was pretty cool. 

The entire cast was great. I like Emily Blunt and it was nice to see her play a very different role than what I'm use to. My favorite though was Benico del Toro. He doesn't have much dialog at all but I think it works and only adds more to the mysteriousness of his character. I definitely got a Punisher vibe from him, although even The Punisher would look at some of the things Benicio does in this movie and go, "GOD DAMN!"  

This is definitely a movie I'll be revisiting on a regular basis. I'm really looking forward to the sequel that's coming out later this year now. 

My Rating: 10/10 

The Post

Plot:

Based on the true story of Katharine Graham (Meryl Streep), the first female publisher of a major American newspaper and her editor Ben Bradlee (Tom Hanks). Together they work to expose a massive cover up of government secrets that span 30 years and 4 US Presidents. 

Pros:

•An interesting story that up until recently I didn’t know too much about about. 

• Meryl Streep gives another great performance . Tom Hanks as well. Is it the best roles of their career? Well, no. But still better than most actors these days. I thought they played off of each other very well. 

•If you’re more a fan of fast paced movies with a lot of action (in the blow things up sense) this is NOT the movie for you. It’s very dialogue heavy. Brilliant dialogue but still. Literally the whole thing, for the most part, is people sitting around talking. I don’t necessarily mind this but I know some people will. Just thought I’d warn you. 

•You get to see what the inside of what it takes to run a newspaper which I thought was kind of cool. 

•Spielberg nails down the look and feel of the time period fairly well. Even the way it was shot. 

Cons:

•Moves at an agonizingly slow pace in the first act. I don’t mind slow movies but damn was that a chore to get through. I had to fight the urge to nod off. 

•That being said, the third act was extremely rushed. Which is sad because that was probably the most interesting part. 

•Not exactly Spielberg’s best. I feel like there was so much more that he could’ve done with the material. 

•Do I recommend this movie? Sure why not. Especially if you’re a fan of Streep or Hanks. I wouldn’t rush out to see it however. 

My Rating: 7/10

All the Money in the World

Plot:

Based on the true story of the kidnapping of John Paul Getty III (Charlie Plummer) and his mother Gail’s (Michelle Williams) desperate attempt to convince the boy’s grandfather, billionaire J. Paul Getty (Christopher Plummer) to pay the ransom. 

Pros:

•My first review of 2018! And what a movie it was. This is by far Ridley Scott’s best movie in years. Even though I really enjoyed The Martian, I feel he’s at his best when he directs movies like this or American Gangster. 

•Lets just get the whole controversy out of the way. Ridley Scott and the studio absolutely did the right thing replacing Kevin Spacey. Really it was the only thing they could do. Had they not they would’ve lost a ton of money. Plus why should everyone else  who worked hard on this movie have to suffer because of what that sick bastard did? Anyway, I’m amazed at what they were able to do with such short notice. The movie was all set to be released in a month when all this shit the fan and yet they were able to replace Spacey with the legendary Christopher Plummer and reshoot all the scenes in just 9 (very long) days. 

•Speaking of Christopher Plummer, they honestly should’ve cast him to begin with (apparently Ridley Scott had wanted to from what I’ve heard). As always, he was amazing! He really was the highlight of this movie. I really liked how he brought some humanity to the character and was able to convincingly portray what having an insane amount of money can do to a person and their family. I would love to see him win another Best Supporting Actor Oscar. 

•Michelle Williams also deserves a lot of praise as well as Mark Wahlberg (please stop doing those fucking Transformers and Daddy’s Home movies and do more stuff like this. You’re really good at it). 

•Don’t be put off by the over two hour run time. The movie moves at a great pace and not once did I feel the urge to look at the time on my phone. 

•The movie is edited so well that for the most part you can’t tell that they did all those reshoots. It fits together perfectly. 

•Beautifully shot. 

•Very tense. Despite knowing the outcome of the story, I was on the edge of my fucking seat, especially in the last act. 

Cons:

•There was one scene where it was glaring obvious that they digitally took Spacey out and put Christopher Plummer in. I totally understand why they had to do it for this particular scene but still, it takes you out of the movie for a second. Nothing that should stop you from seeing the movie though. I highly recommend it. 

My Rating: 9/10