Cameraperson

Plot-

Takes a glimpse into documentary cinematographer Kirsten Johnson's footage shot over her 25 year career. 

Pros:

•Some nice imagery. 

•If you're having trouble falling asleep just put this on. I guarantee that you'll be out within minutes. 

Cons:

•This is not a movie. It's just someone's very long demo reel. I don't necessarily mind something that's non linear but good lord! They just threw a bunch of random footage together. Just when I would get interested in a story they would cut away to something completely different and most of the time never come back to it. 

•Fucking shaky cam!!!

My Rating: 4.5/10

The Birth of a Nation

Plot-

Based on a true story. Nate Parker plays Nat Turner- a literate slave and preacher who, after witnessing countless acts of brutality against his fellow slaves, orchestrates an uprising. 

Pros:

•Powerful performances by all, especially Nate Parker and Aja Naomi King. 

•Beautiful cinematography. Loved the hazy look to the movie. 

•This is one of those movies that I think everyone should see but you'll only watch it once. It's VERY brutal but in a different way than 12 Years a Slave. 12 Years a Slave showed you everything whereas this shows you some things, but will cut away and show the aftermath. Which honestly is just as devastating. 

•Musical score. 

Cons:

•A few rough spots with the editing and writing. Although considering this is Nate Parker's directorial debut I think he did a great job. 

•They rushed through the uprising way too fast. It was the most important part and you'd think they'd want to spend more time with it. 

•Angel scenes

•While I love the music, it was overwhelming in some scenes. 

My Rating: 8.5/10

Snowden

Plot-

Oliver Stone's movie about former NSA agent Edward Snowden (Joseph Gordon Levitt), who leaks their illegal surveillance techniques as well as thousands of classified documents to the press. 

Pros:

•Acting is pretty strong for the most part. Especially Joseph Gordon Levitt and Rhys Ifans. 

•Overall a well made movie. 

•Nicholas Cage cameo. 

Cons:

•This is fairly toned down for an Oliver Stone movie but every so often he'd go back into his crazy conspiracy theory mode. You could totally tell when it would happen by the music. 

•I just found myself not caring that much about the characters. 

•The portrayal of Snowden's relationship with his girlfriend. I'm not sure how it is in real life but here it was awful the way he treated her and that she put up with it. 

•I still prefer the documentary about Snowden (which I highly recommend if you want to know more on this subject) that they did not that long ago over this. 

•Not enough Nicholas Cage. 

My Rating: 7/10

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children

Plot-

Jake (Asa Butterfield) discovers clues to a mystery that leads him to a Home for Peculiar Children run by Miss Peregrine (Eva Greene). But danger awaits and Jake's own peculiarity is the only thing that can save his new friends. 

Pros:

•From the moment this movie starts you can tell this is a Tim Burton movie. This is both good and bad. 

•Burton's movies are often visually appealing, this being no exception. 

•The first half, while a little slow at times, was very enjoyable. It seemed like he had toned things down a bit. 

•Music

•Samuel L Jackson's performance. Boy was he camping it up and it was glorious to watch! He was the best thing about this movie for me. 

Cons:

•As I said, I enjoyed the first half. But after that Burton had to go and lose his fucking mind once again! And not in the good way like his older movies. 

•Asa Butterfield. Would it kill him to show some fucking emotion? I've only seen him in a few things but to give you an idea of how bad an actor he is- He makes Jai Courtney look like Daniel Day Lewis. 

•Editing should've been tighter. The movie was a little over two hours long and there was no reason for it. 

•Don't see this in theaters. If you're really curious, wait until it comes to Netflix. Better yet, watch the classic Burton movies again like Batman, Beetlejuice, and Edward Scissorhands. 

My Rating: 6/10

The Beatles- Eight Days a Week

Plot-

Documentary from director Ron Howard showing footage from The Beatles many concerts between 1963 to 1966 as well as interviews. 

Pros:

•If you're a fan of The Beatles then you're going to love this movie! Going into it I assumed it would just be a bunch of concert footage I had already seen a million times but I was wrong. There was not only new footage (to me anyway) but I learned a lot about them through the various stories told here. 

•Well conducted interviews. 

•Don't be off put by the 2 hour and 17 minute run time. The movie itself is only about 1 hour and 45 minutes. After the credits you get to see the fully restored, edited down (to about 30 minutes) concert from 1965 at Shea Stadium. It really made me feel like I was there and was worth the price of admission alone. 

Cons:

•Nothing major and I'm not sure if it was the theater I was in, but the sound quality was a little off in spots. 

My Rating: 9/10

Equity

Plot-

Naomi Bishop (Anna Gunn), a senior investment banker, gets caught up in a financial scandal that threatens to ruin everything she's worked for. 

Pros:

•Good performances by Anna Gunn and the rest of the female cast. 

•Always nice to see movies about strong women in the workforce. 

•Last half hour was tense without being too flashy. 

Cons:

•The first hour was really dull. Wasn't sure where they were going with it. 

•The men in this movie were very underdeveloped. I understand that it was all about the women but still. 

•Some poor camera work in the beginning. 

•Choppy editing. 

My Rating: 7/10

The Magnificent Seven

Plot-

Remake of the 1960 film. Seven gun men (Denzel Washington, Chris Pratt, Ethan Hawke, Vincent D'Onofrio, Byun-hun Lee, Manuel Garcia-Ruflo, and Martin Sensmeier) are hired to help a poor town against the evil Bartholomew Bogue (Peter Sarsgaard). 

Pros:

•Anytime Denzel and director Antoine Fuqua team up you know you're in for a treat. This is no exception. I hope they continue to make more movies. 

•You can tell Fuqua is a big fan of this genre. Everything from the color tones to locations and more felt like an old fashioned Western. 

•Denzel is his usual bad ass self. Not sure what else I can say about him that hasn't already been said. People should know by now not to fuck with him. 

•The main seven actors worked well together and looked like they had a lot of fun while filming. 

•Despite being filled with your typical Western cliches (although they were well done), the movie does give you a few surprises. 

Cons:

•Peter Sarsgaard gives a decent performance, but his role as the main villain is a bit too one dimensional. They should've taken a little more time to develop his character. 

•I know this is a nit pick but Vincent D'Onofrio's accent got on my fucking nerves!! Not sure what he was going for. 

My Rating: 8.5/10