Tag: movies
December 27, 2018
-
Review
Ready Player One (2018, Steven Spielberg)
I kind of liked the book while I was reading it, but I’ve grown less and less fond of it as time’s gone by. The book is problematic in many ways and I was willing to overlook that for the hit of nostalgia. The movie tries to address some of this but ultimately is just as empty a shell as the book. Eye candy yes, but I’m not that interested in eye candy right now.
December 25, 2018
-
Review
Roma (2018, Alfonso Cuarón)
Absolutely stunning. One of my top pics of the year. I’m a huge fan of Cuarón and he did not disappoint.
December 24, 2018
-
Review
It’s a Wonderful Life (1946, Frank Capra)
I’ve probably seen this over 25 times now. And I don’t tire of it.
December 22, 2018
-
Review
Bird Box (2018, Susan Bier)
People seem to be divided on this one. I enjoy “light horror” like this. It’s not really that scary and deals more with people’s ability to triumph over adversity. The ending is a bit hokey but hey, I’m okay with that. And I really like Sandra Bullock and I’m thankful when she’s in something that isn’t mindless schlock.
December 21, 2018
-
Review
White Christmas (1954, Michael Curtiz)
It is a long-standing tradition that I watch this lovely holiday music with the girls Christmas Eve. This year we did an early Christmas Eve as my youngest was off to Florida for the holidays, but it was still wonderful.
December 20, 2018
-
Review
Ghost Stories (2017, Jeremy Dyson, Andy Nyman)
An entertaining British indie flick. It’s been on my list for about a year and I finally managed to get to it. Not exactly a traditional Christmas tale though. 🙂
December 9, 2018
-
Review
My Cousin Rachel (2017, Roger Michell)
Gothic romance/thriller with Rachel Weisz sounded like a good idea, but it didn’t really grab me as I’d hoped. Maybe too faithful to the original?
December 8, 2018
-
Review
Happy As Lazzaro (2018, Alice Rohrwacher)
This made me very happy. Other than the fact it was artsy, I didn’t know anything about this when I watched it, and that made it even better because I had no idea where it was going to go at any given moment.
November 21, 2018
-
Review
Broadway Melody of 1936 (1935, Roy Del Ruth, W.S. Van Dyke)
I get nostalgic for times long before I was born.
November 18, 2018
-
Review
2010 (1984, Peter Hyams)
Man, this really didn’t age well. Almost everything predictive about it is dramatically wrong.
November 17, 2018
-
Review
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017, Martin McDonagh)
The acting, directing, cinematography – most everything about this movie was ace. But I wasn’t really happy with the horrible racist people being redeemed. It felt like the wrong year for that.
-
Review
The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (2018, Joel Coen, Ethan Coen)
This was loads of fun. Anthologies are generally hit and miss, but I liked every one of these old-timey western stories. And Tom Waits as the old prospector was an absolute stunner.
I keep wanting to call it The Ballad of Lester Scruggs though, because Foggy Mountain Boys.
November 13, 2018
-
Review
Logan Lucky (2017, Steven Soderbergh)
Dumb people heist movies are a nice antidote to super-genius heist movies. Soderbergh does both well. This started out amazing but lost it’s way toward the end.
November 11, 2018
-
Review
Gaslight (1944, George Cukor)
First time watching this classic for me. I’d been talking to the girls about the origins of the modern term “gaslighting” and realized I hadn’t seen the movie myself.
October 28, 2018
-
Review
You Were Never Really Here (2017, Lynne Ramsay)
Intense doesn’t begin to describe it. I thought less of it immediately after watching than I did as time went on. As with most challenging films, it takes a bit of analysis and maybe reading a few reviews to get a sense of what you actually saw. Recommended for the adventurous.
October 13, 2018
-
Review
Black Panther (2018, Ryan Coogler)
One of the better superhero films of late, but I’m not a fan of the genre. In any case, I love the afro-futurism and it was wonderful seeing so many strong black actors playing positive characters that are far less frequent in Hollywood than they should be.
October 5, 2018
-
Review
808 (2015, Alex Dunn)
This documentary about a drum machine was a major rush for me. The classic 808 sounds unpin so much of the music I listened to in the eighties and beyond. It’s rather bizarre – particularly since most of those sounds came from people using the device in ways its inventors never anticipated – much like AutoTune.
-
Review
The Endless (2017, Aaron Moorhead, Justin Benson)
They were going for something here. I’m not sure they made it. Or I didn’t get it.
September 11, 2018
-
Review
The Florida Project (Sean Baker, 2017)
This was wonderful. I knew it was heartbreaking but didn’t realize it was also so funny. The kids are so natural, the adults so incredibly broken.
September 5, 2018
-
Review
Deadpool 2 (David Leitch, 2018)
This was very funny. More like Naked Gun or the Scary Movie series than a “real” superhero movie.
September 3, 2018
-
Review
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (Michel Gondry, 2004)
Probably my third or fourth time watching this. I forget how many times I’ve seen it. 🙂
Glad to see the special effects are still holding up well.
August 22, 2018
-
Review
The Beyond (Hasraf Dulull, 2017)
None of this makes any sense at all!
August 21, 2018
-
Review
The Commuter (Jaume Collet-Serra, 2018)
Dumb. Fun.
August 18, 2018
-
Review
Thor: Ragnarok (Taika Waititi, 2017)
Not a fan – at all – of superhero movies, but this was fun. As with Deadpool, if they go for humor I can get behind it easier.
August 17, 2018
-
Review
The Guernsey Literary & Potato Peel Pie Society (Mike Newell, 2018)
An old-timey romance that features beautiful shots of the Guernsey island landscape but otherwise is weak and problematic. We’re still making movies about women falling for their Nazis captors in 2018?
July 30, 2018
-
Review
The Stranger (Orson Welles, 1946)
I hadn’t heard of this film until it popped up unexpectedly on Netflix. Now I know why.
July 27, 2018
-
Review
Extinction (Ben Young, 2018)
Pedestrian SF thriller. I’m lame at seeing what the twist will be so I did do a “huh” at the big reveal.
July 26, 2018
-
Review
Mercury Rising (Harold Becker, 1998)
Boy of boy, this has not aged well. In particular, the treatment of the kid’s Asperbergers is so hamfisted and plain incorrect it definitely feels like it’s from another age – even though the movie is only twenty years old.
July 25, 2018
-
Review
Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (Jake Kasdan, 2017)
I enjoyed this way more than I expected to. A nice update for a new generation. By the way, I’m totally cool with any movie being remade any old time. “Everything is a remix.”
