The Disaster Artist Review (2017)

The Disaster Artist

  The disaster artist is a film about the making of a film. More specifically, the making of the cult classic, Citizen Cane of horrible movies. What movie am I speaking of? The Room.

   A film with a 6 million dollar budget that made less than 2,000 dollars at the box office. A film that's popularity is almost as mysterious as its director, Tommy Wiseau. A man who funded this film completely on his own with a bottomless pit of money with no known source. A man that speaks with an Eastern European accent, yet claims he's from New Orleans. A man that tells people that he's twenty, when in actuality he is probably more like forty. This is our main character, and BOY does James Franco kill it in this role!
  I absolutely loved every single second of this film. From start to finish, I had a big ol' smile on my face.
  Not only is James Franco's film one of the funniest of the year, but it's also surprisingly inspiring and genuine! He portrays Wiseau in a very human way, giving us the good and the bad, the sweet and the crazy, the humor with the sympathy. This is a story about dreamers. Perhaps some misguided dreamers, but dreamers non-the-less. It is a love letter to the creative process, even if the finished product doesn't get the response we were hoping for.
  If you haven't seen The Room, you will still enjoy this movie. If you have seen The Room, you will admire the tender care Franco has put into doing this right. Disaster Artist is one of the best films of the year! 10 out of 10 Stars! (A Must See!)

Star Wars: The Last Jedi Review (2017)

Star Wars: The Last Jedi

  Wow, I can't believe it's almost the end of the year and here I am reviewing one of the most anticipated films of 2017. As someone who grew up obsessed with the Star Wars franchise, I want to go on record and say that I will see every Star Wars movie that comes out no matter how bad it is. That is to say that my loyalty to the universe (or should I say galaxy), runs deep. But just because my love runs deep doesn't mean that I can't be objective and call a bad movie bad. And well... I was pretty disappointed with this one. That said, before I go on slashing this film to shreds, let me tell you some of the good things about this film. 

  Number one is the cinematography. Holy moly. It was beautiful. This might actually be one of the best looking Star Wars movies around. 

  Number 2 (and I admit this is mostly weaponized nostalgia), but there is a scene with R2D2, C3PO, and Luke that made my hard heart melt. 

  Thirdly, Oscar Issac is really engaging as Poe Dameron, and probably has one of the better performances in the film.

  Lastly, I love the Porg creatures. Yes, I know they only exist because Disney wants to sell toys, but they are freaking cute, okay?

  Alright! Time to get real (Sorry fanboys and girls). The biggest problem I had with The Last Jedi is the storytelling. This is a film that really doesn't need to exist. You could watch The Force Awakens and whatever movie comes after this one and you will have missed nothing. Not to mention, most of the 2 and a half hour runtime focuses on a subplot that ultimately does absolutely nothing for the story. The pacing of this film is just bad, overstuffed with unnecessary filler.
  Another thing that bothered me was the tone of the film. There were so many times where the script sacrificed powerful moments for the sake of a cheap laugh, even at the cost of what the character would actually do or say. There are several instances of forced one-liners or awkward dialogue that is unsuccessfully trying to get a laugh, and then dialogue that is successfully getting laughs, but unintentionally.
  I felt like if anything, the Last Jedi actually asks more questions and presents more plotholes then it actually answers. Characters are given powers that we've never seen before, which makes us wonder if they could always do that, why didn't they? And if it was because they weren't powerful enough, why didn't we see powerful Jedi's like Yoda doing these things? Why is Rey so special that she can do things without any kind of training? That also brings me to another flaw. They're trying to set up Kylo Ren as the modern Vader, but they aren't doing anything to earn our respect. They keep telling us he has power unmatchable and that he is Rey's equal, yet we never actually see him do anything worth noting. All we see him do is cry and throw temper tantrums. 

  One of the big conflicts of the film is that Rey is trying to pull Kylo Ren to the light and he is trying to pull her to the dark. But we never actually see her struggle. He keeps saying he sees darkness in her and yet we as an audience never see this battle through anything she actively does.
  Oh and let's talk about the acting which was horrible across the board. AGAIN. Even people I know can act like Domnhall Gleason gave over the top, annoying performances. I seriously don't understand why it's so hard to cast good actors for a Star Wars film. Like there are literally thousands of people auditioning and they chose to cast Kelly Marie Tran as the character Rose? Seriously, she was soooo bad. Ugghh... What sucks is that I'm not even done. 

  The past movie sets up questions that are totally disregarded in this one, characters are completely wasted, things happen that are beyond cheesy, and what sucks the most is that they are going to pull a Marvel and give us a movie a year, so the saga will never end and quality will be sacrificed for quantity. 

  *Deep breath* Okay. I'll give it a rest now. You might actually be surprised to know that I am scoring this a 5 out of 10 stars, because in the end, despite its flaws, I still had some fun with it. Then again, that might just be nostalgia speaking... (Rent It) 

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri Review (2017)

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

  When I went and saw Three Billboards I didn't go in thinking I was about to watch one of the best films of the year. That, however, is exactly what happened.
  This is the story of a woman whose daughter is murdered, raped, and killed. When the police take too long to find the person who did it, she puts up 3 billboards asking for justice and calling them out personally. If I were to summarize this movie using one of its own quotes, I would say, "Anger only begets more anger." And this film is so angry it's palpable.
  There was sooo much I appreciate about this movie, but let's first talk about that script! Wow is it just outrageous! (And I mean that in a good way!) Writer and Director, Martin McDonagh, is not afraid to be offensive, delivering one of the most laugh-out-loud funny scripts of the year. His tremendously dark comedy and witty dialogue drive this film, but it doesn't only work in the humor department. It is also incredibly unpredictable, taking your expectations and flipping them on their head. Every character in the film does things that should make us as an audience hate them, but then we get these moments of great vulnerability that really bring a sense of humanity to the story. I can't only give credit to the script though. Three Billboards has some of the best performances of the year. Frances McDormand, Woody Harrelson, and Sam Rockwell KILL IT in this film. McDormand is a raging powerhouse here, balancing vulgar, violent rage and sincere emotion.
  You will probably leave this film with a lot of questions, but I believe that's intentional. This is a film that shows how even the darkest sides of humanity can be redeemable and find forgiveness in others and in themselves. Three Billboards is unforgettable and deserves a 10 out of 10 Stars from me. (A Must See)

Lady Bird Review (2017)

Lady Bird

  And the winner of Best Actress goes to. . . . . . .  Saorise Ronan! Seriously, I absolutely love the heck out of this girl. She never ceases to amaze me. From Atonement to Brooklyn to The Grand Budapest Hotel to Lady Bird; Ronan has shown massive range and skill, proving to be one of the most talented actresses working today.
  Lady Bird is the story of a young Catholic girl who lives in Sacramento but wants to go to college in New York. While the plot seems simple, and it is, Lady Bird feels like so much more.
  This is a film that understands what it is to be a teenager, and it explores that transition to adulthood in a way that is both touching and charming.
   The beating heart of the film is the relationship between Christine and her mother. This could have easily fallen prey to the cliches of young adult fiction, but Lady Bird instead transcends the genre and offers us complex dynamics that never once feel fraudulent. Both Christine and her mother are flawed, and in this film, they are both sometimes the bad guy. There are times where we as an audience might even dislike Christine, only to realize that the things we dislike in her, are things we often see in ourselves.
  Lady Bird is a film with a genuine voice, a sharp wit, and a lot to offer. It also has a really great soundtrack. 9 out of 10 stars (I'd Buy It On Blu-ray)

Mudbound Review (2017)

Mudbound 

  Following the likes of Amazon, Netflix is continuing to put more and more original content out there, blessing us with the movie I'm about to review.
  Mudbound is the story of two military men returning from World War 2; one of them being black and the other white. The story revolves around the ways they interact with the world after the war and how race plays a factor in it all.
  Mudbound felt much more like a novel than a film in its execution. It is a story told from multiple perspectives, a story in which every character is totally flawed and yet also redeemable in some way. Aside from how well written these characters are, they are also extremely well acted. Carey Mulligan, Rob Morgan, Jason Mitchell, Jason Clarke, Garrett Hedlund, and Mary J Blige all give such fantastic, nuanced performances, making these characters as authentic as possible.
  Mudbound has a way of slowly pulling you in, and it isn't until the climax that you realize how much you are invested in these people's lives and the weight in which it emotionally affects you. This is a layered drama that tackles hard subjects in a remarkably heartbreaking, dark, and profound way. Will you want to watch it over and over again? Probably not, but it's quality filmmaking that will definitely be a dark horse in the Oscar race this year. 9 out of 10 stars (I'd Buy It On Blu-Ray)

Justice League Review (2017)

Justice League

  The awkward moment when you expect a movie to be trash and it turns out to be even worse trash than you imagined... Introducing Justice League.
  Now I have mentioned too many times to count that I'm not a huge fan of this cinematic universe of the superhero genre. I think it's an easy way for studios to make a buck off the excitement and nostalgia of overhyped fans of films that even when entertaining are only long trailers for another film that is derivative of the first. The only difference between Marvel and DC is that we actually care enough about the Marvel characters to watch them do the same things over and over again. The solo movies were decent, they gave us enough character development and arch to keep us interested, and over a period of time, they added more layers to what we now know as the Marvel Universe. With DC, they decided they wanted the same thing, but didn't want to take the time to actually make decent solo movies. SO, they rushed Batman, Superman, Suicide Squad, etc, all of which were absolute trash. Now with Justice League, we get to see all of our least favorite superheroes together on screen fight a super lame, cartoony, CGI villain that's going to (you guessed it) destroy the entire planet with a boatload of more bad CGI. The worst part about this train wreck of a film is that it's not even mildly entertaining. None of the motivations make sense, the action is boring, the one-liners are forced, the acting is vanilla, the characters are one-dimensional. I could go on and on, but you get the point. Zach Snyder has made yet another chaotic CGI suckfest with more characters we could care less about in a world we could care less about.
  Another thing that bothered me was Jason Momoa. Seriously though, I'm not even sure why he was in this film, he did literally nothing. Ezra Miller, the only decent thing in here and the only reason I was even slightly interested in seeing this film, tried to work with what he had, but even his comedic timing couldn't save this garbage from utter ruin. Don't even get me started on Superman and Henry Cavill's wooden performance, or the fact that they used CGI to remove his mustache. Kill me now. Justice League earns a 1 out of 10 stars from me. (Trash)

Only The Brave Review (2017)

Only The Brave

  Before I say anything about this film, I want to give a shout out to cinematographer Claudio Miranda. *Slow clap* Gorgeous. Absolutely Gorgeous.
  Moving on! Only the Brave is based on the true story of the Granite Mountain Hotshots and the bravery they (and firefighters like them) exhibit in their work.
  Only The Brave doesn't focus so much on the action of these men fighting fires, but the effect that fighting fires had on their personal lives. Normally this would be a positive thing, as I am a sucker for character driven stories. Unfortunately though, while the film was well acted, our main character's are simply not that interesting. In fact, all of our major conflicts revolve around problems that never seem to resolve, even when the characters grow. Because of this, I didn't really feel connected to the characters, and so when the climax hit, it wasn't as affecting. This is a film that you watch once, enjoy enough to not be angry that you spent 15 dollars, and then forget about the next day. For this reason, Only The Brave gets a 6 out of 10 star rating from me. (Worth Ticket Price)