Angel Has Fallen

Plot:

Secret Service Agent Mike Banning (Gerard Butler) is framed for the attempted assassination of the President (Morgan Freeman) and sets out to clear his name. 

Pros:

• Much like Olympus Has Fallen (which I went into not expecting anything and was pleasantly surprised by how much I liked it) this movie was entertaining as fuck. Was it dumb? Absolutely. But there’s nothing wrong with a good dumb action/popcorn film. It certainly helps you take you mind off things. 

•The action scenes were brutal and for the most part well choreographed. 

•President Morgan Freeman

•Gerard Butler was good

•Nick Nolte stole every scene he was in. 

•I even got some laughs out of this. 

Cons:

•Extremely predictable. As soon as certain characters appeared on screen I was like, “Yup, these are going to turn out to be the bad guys.” And I was right. 

•Several moments of horrible green screen effects. I’ve seen movies with half their budget look better. 

My Rating: 7.5/10

The Last Black Man in San Francisco

Pros:

•Powerful and well written story/social commentary that, while definitely slow paced, kept me engaged the entire time. 

•Jimmie Fails and Jonathan Majors give two of the best performances you’ll see this year. 

•The supporting cast is very strong as well. 

•Gorgeously shot. 

•Haunting score/soundtrack

•Considering this is Joe Talbot’s first time directing a feature length film (the only other directing credit I could find was a short film he did in 2017) I think he did an amazing job. I look forward to seeing more of his work. 

Cons:

•None! This is definitely one of the best movies I’ve seen this year and I highly recommended it to everyone. 

My Rating: 10/10

All Is True

Plot:

The final days of the life of William Shakespeare (Kenneth Branagh, who also directs). 

Pros:

•I’ll give Kenneth Branagh this much, he knows how to make a gorgeous looking movie. The cinematography in here is amazing. Also, you can tell he’s very passionate about this subject matter. 

•It was interesting to see a side of Shakespeare you never really see depicted in movies. 

•Strong performances, especially Kenneth Branagh and Kathryn Wilder (who plays his daughter Judith). I enjoyed seeing how their relationship developed. 

•If you’re a fan of Shakespeare or of this time period I definitely think you’ll enjoy this. 

Cons:

•Take a shot every time a scene is filmed using Dutch angles. You’ll be dead of alcohol poisoning by the time the movie is over. 

•Could’ve used another round of editing. Certain scenes went on just a bit too long. While the movie is only about an hour and forty minutes at times it felt much longer. 

My Rating: 7.5/10

The Farewell

Plot:

A Chinese family discovers that their grandmother has terminal cancer and decides to keep her in the dark. 

Pros:

•When it comes to A24 movies I love them more of than not. I’m happy to say that The Farewell is definitely one that I love. 

•Strong performances by the entire cast, especially Awkwafina. 

•I tend to avoid movies that deal with this subject matter since they can be depressing as fuck and leave me in a bad mood for days. That’s not the case here. While I did tear up a few times, this was very heartwarming and had a surprising amount of humor. 

•Well directed and written. 

•Easily one of the best movies you’ll see this year. 

Cons:

•Nothing major. Some people may not care for the slow pacing of it. It didn’t bother me though. 

•A few of the characters could’ve used some more development. 

My Rating: 9/10

Hobbs & Shaw

Being a fan of the Fast & Furious franchise, I pretty much knew what to expect- a movie that’s dumb as fuck but lots of fun. And for the most part that’s exactly what I got. 

Normally when I do a review I would talk about the plot but come on... this is a Fast & Furious spin off- there really isn’t one. It’s nearly two and a half hours of Jason Statham and The Rock (who have really good chemistry and play off each other well) beating people up and tons of explosions. Oh and Idris Elba is the bad guy. 

I gotta admit while this may be one of the dumbest movies I’ve seen in a long time, I enjoyed it. 

That’s not to say it’s without it’s flaws. For one, it’s a tad too long. I was never bored but towards the end I was feeling the length. Second, while most of the fight scenes were well choreographed a few were very sloppy. 

Finally, and I know this is me just nitpicking, there’s a cameo here by a certain actor that when he appeared made me groan. Totally took me out of the movie for a minute and caused me to lower my rating slightly. 

So do I recommend the movie? Sure, why not. Get a group of friends together and see a matinee showing of this. You’ll have a good time. 

My Rating: 7.5/10