The Personal History of David Copperfield

Pros:

•The main things that stick out to me are the cinematography and costumes. It’s certainly a gorgeous movie to look at. They also do some creative things visually while telling the story which I thought was interesting. 

•All of the actors looked like they were having a lot of fun filming this. The highlights in my opinion were Peter Capaldi and Hugh Laurie. 

•I’m not as crazy about Dev Patel like some people are but I thought he was charming in the title role. 

Cons:

•The story itself was kind of... meh. Not bad by any means but I’ll most likely forget about it in a few days. Wouldn’t really recommend you see it in theaters. 

•The tone was all over the place. One minute it’s serious and the next it feels like a satire. It’s the same issue I had with the director’s last movie, The Death of Stalin (which despite this flaw is a far superior movie and one that I revisit often). 

•If you’re looking for a good period piece there are so many better ones than this. Emma (2020) for example. 

My Rating: 6/10

Tenet (IMAX)

My first review in over seven months. Wow! So much has changed since then. The world has gone to hell as you all know but some good has come out of this. When my work closed down for over two months, and I needed something to occupy my time and keep my sane, I actually started writing again! I’ve been wanting to write this story for over two years and it feels so good to get it out of my head and onto paper. Currently writing chapter 21 of what will probably be around a 30 chapter novel. Will definitely share it with you all when I’m finished. 

Between working on my novel and the fact that the studios aren’t really releasing much for the rest of the year, I probably won’t be doing reviews on a weekly basis but I’ll try to post some as often as I can. 

Anyway, onto the review. I’m very happy that it gets to be the latest Christopher Nolan movie 😊 

Pros:

•It’s a fascinating story but definitely one that I’m going to need to watch a few more times in order to process it all. Who knows, maybe it’ll make my rating go up. 

•It was nice to see John David Washington in a movie again. While I enjoyed his performance in BlacKkKlansman more, I still thought he was good here. I also really liked Robert Pattinson in this as well. 

•Amazing fight/action choreography. 

•Of course it was a gorgeous looking movie, especially on an IMAX screen. 

•Probably one of Nolan’s weaker movies in my opinion. Still, even one of his movies that isn’t the best is still a million times better than most of the movies that are released. That being said, I would recommend it. 

Cons:

•The sound mixing would sometimes be so overwhelming/loud that I could barely make out the dialogue. 

•I didn’t care much for Kenneth Branagh (whom I’m normally a fan of) in this. There were times where he was fine but other times he was a little too over the top. 

•As much as I love Nolan, he still doesn’t know how to write good female characters. 

•Started to feel the length a bit towards the end. 

My Rating: 7.5/10

Emma

Pros:

•Gorgeous cinematography and costumes.

•I’m a sucker for a good period piece. And the fact that it’s Jane Austen makes it even better. 

•Anya Taylor-Joy was perfectly cast as the title character. She’s a very talented young actress and I’ve enjoyed everything I’ve seen her in so far. 

•It’s always a delight whenever I see Bill Nighy in a movie. 

Cons:

•It got off to a bit of a slow start and I wasn’t feeling it at first. Luckily things picked up in the second half. 

My Rating: 8/10 

This will probably be my last review for a little while. I’ve been meaning to take a break to focus on other things. Mainly my other writing including several stories I’ve had floating in my head for a long time. And with this horrible coronavirus sadly affecting everything, who knows when we’ll get more new releases. 

The Way Back

I didn’t even know about this movie until just recently. But when I heard this was directed by Gavin O’Connor (who also directed Warrior, one of my favorite movies ever) I knew I had to see it. He’s definitely your go to guy if you’re looking to make a sports movie. I’m happy to say that once again he did not disappoint. The Way Back was absolutely amazing. 

What I really love the most about Gavin’s movies is that you don’t have to be a sports fan in order to enjoy them. Honestly this movie wasn’t as much about basketball as the trailer lead me to believe. It’s a big part of it yes, but it’s more than that. It’s a really well done drama about a man named Jack Cunningham (Ben Affleck, who gives one of his best performances in my opinion), a former high school basketball star who has gone through some really tragic things in his life and is battling severe alcoholism. And that’s putting it mildly. 

You can tell how personal this movie is for Ben Affleck given his own struggles with addiction. He really put everything into this and gave a raw, brutality realistic performance. I would love to see him get some recognition come award season but given that it’s super early in the year who knows. 

There were some rough spots with the dialog but that really my only complaint. I highly recommend everyone check it out. 

My Rating: 9/10

The Invisible Man

I’ll be honest, I really wasn’t planning on seeing this at all. I had seen the trailer for it several times before a lot of movies the last couple of months and it just looked stupid. But after the decent reviews it’s been getting I figured I’d give it a chance. I’m so glad I did. This is one of those cases where you shouldn’t judge a movie by its trailer. The Invisible Man was actually really good. 

Hats off to director Leigh Whannell (who also directed Upgrade, a movie everyone keeps telling me to watch and I’m definitely going to make it a point to now) for creating  this really well made psychological thriller that doesn’t rely on big special effects, jump scares or tons of action. I mean there was definitely more action towards the end but it wasn’t overkill. Instead he uses the cinematography, score, etc. to really set the tone. It’s also a slow burn which I know some people won’t like but I was totally fine with. 

Elisabeth Moss once again gives another brilliant performance. She was very believable as an abuse victim. I know it’s very early but this is one of my favorite performances of the year so far. 

My only complaint is the twists I could see coming from a mile away. I wish it had given me a few more surprises. Other than that it’s a great movie that I highly recommend. Go see it. 

My Rating: 8.5/10

Bombshell

Pros:

•One of the things that really stood out to me was the writing. I was hooked  right from the beginning. While I thought I knew a lot about this story, there was also things I didn’t. It really sheds more light on an important issue. The dialog was very sharp as well. 

•Outstanding performances by Charlize Theron, Nicole Kidman, and Margot Robbie. 

•I can see why this movie won the Best Makeup Oscar. If I hadn’t known ahead of time I never would’ve guessed that was Charlize Theron as Megan Kelly. 

Cons:

•There really isn’t anything major I can think of. I highly recommend this movie to everyone. If I had any complaints I guess it would be that the ending felt a bit rushed. 

My Rating: 9/10

Birds of Prey

Pros:

•It was way better than Suicide Squad. Not that that’s saying much. 

•Margot Robbie was great as Harley Quinn. She looked like she was having a blast. 

•The fight scenes were well done for the most part. 

•There’s a lot of cool visuals. 

•I thought the four main characters worked really well together. 

•The soundtrack was badass. Will definitely add it to my Spotify list. 

•Would I rush out to see this? No. But it’s definitely worth checking out. Get some friends together and go see a matinee. You’ll have fun. 

Cons:

•Maybe it could be because I’m exhausted today, but the movie dragged a bit for me at the beginning. 

•A few of the characters could’ve been a little better developed. 

•As much as I like Ewan McGregor, I didn’t care for him as the main villain here. 

My Rating: 7/10 

Jojo Rabbit

Pros:

•I can see why Scarlett Johansson got a Best Supporting Actress nomination for her role in this. She was amazing. Definitely the heart of this movie. 

•I also liked the actress that played the young Jewish girl hiding in their home. I can’t think of the actress’s name at the moment but she played the daughter in Leave No Trace (which if you haven’t seen already I highly recommend). 

•The movie was, in my opinion, at its best during the serious moments. 

•It’s really nicely shot and directed. 

•Moved at a good pace. 

Cons:

•I’ll be honest, I really wasn’t feeling this movie at first. Mainly, the humor just wasn’t working for me. I don’t think I laughed once, just a few chuckles here and there. 

•As much as I like Taika Waititi as a director, his portrayal of Jojo’s imaginary friend version of Hitler got on my damn nerves. If it weren’t for this I’d be giving this movie a higher rating. 

My Rating: 7.5/10

Bad Boys For Life

The first two Bad Boys movies are probably some of the only Michael Bay movies I actually like. So I’ve been looking forward to this one ever since they first announced it years ago. And I’m happy to report that it didn’t disappoint. 

It was great seeing Will Smith and Martin Lawrence back together again. They still have really good chemistry and looked like they were having a blast filming this. 

I had so much fun watching this movie. Is it dumb as fuck? Absolutely! But there’s nothing wrong with a dumb action movie if done right. 

My only complaints are very minor. First, while most of the humor worked for me (I got several genuine laughs) some of the jokes fell flat. And second, the movie did drag a bit in the last act. Still, it’s nothing that should stop you from seeing the movie. Definitely give it a chance. 

My Rating: 8/10

1917

Pros:

•Where do I even begin? Wow!! I can definitely see why this has been so much attention this awards season. This was one of the best war movies I’ve seen in a long time. 

•I love the way it was filmed to make it appear the entire movie was one long shot. You really feel like you’re there with these two soldiers on their journey. 

•So much tension and it never lets up. I was on the edge of my seat the entire time. Those nearly two hours just flew by. 

•Outstanding direction by Sam Mendez. 

•Amazing performances by the two main leads. 

•There’s some great cameos as well. Some you’ve already seen in the trailers and some were a surprise. 

•Beautiful cinematography and music score. 

Cons:

•I honestly can’t think of a single one. This was everything you could ever want in a war movie and so much more. I just wish I had seen it earlier. Definitely would’ve made my top 10 list. 

My Rating: 10/10