moviereviews4u-blog

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Sorry, I haven’t uploaded recently! School and work has been hectic! I have had time to sit down and watch a couple of films...reviews on the way probably after next week!

Captain Fantastic will be the next review I post! 

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Disobedience (2017)

Directed by: Sebastián Lelio Written by: Sebastián Lelio, Rebecca Lenkiewicz, Naomi Alderman (wrote the novel it’s based on) Starring: Rachel Weisz, Rachel McAdams, and Alessandro Nivola Overall rating: 8/10 

Summary: The death of Ronit’s (Weisz) estranged father passes away, Ronit is forced back to a community she fled years before. When she runs into her old childhood friend, Esti (McAdams), she finds that her feelings still haven't changed for her. The problem is Esti is now married to Ronit’s cousin, Dovid (Nivola) as well as still living in a devout Jewish community. This movie follows as Ronit tries to grieve the loss of her father, adjust to being back in her old community, and trying to understand what is between her and Esti. 

Review: Overall, this movie is incredible. I’m usually not one for dramas, but this one kept my attention. I greatly enjoyed the chemistry between the actors. I also really enjoyed the pace of the film; it didn’t dwell on unimportant scenes, but allocated that extra time to the important ones. It’s made clear from the beginning that the three main characters were once very close and the actors did a good job of portraying that as well as the awkwardness that comes with not seeing someone in a long time. One short coming is the ambiguous ending; I'm not a fan of those. I wish they would’ve made the film an extra couple of minutes and just explained what was going to happen. They also left out a few key scenes involving Dovid that really help show his character. I also wish that the movie was just as educational as the book when it came to the Jewish faith. A lot of the religious moments in the movie go unexplained and leaves the viewers confused. 

Overall, I really enjoyed the film and plan on adding it to my collection. 

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The Last Samurai (2003)

Directed by: Edward Zwick  Written by: John Logan Starring: Tom Cruise, Ken Watanabe Overall score: 8/10

Summary: Nathan Algren (Cruise) is an American military advisor whom struggles with what he’s done on the battlefield in the past. He is hired to assist an American Ambassador land a major arms deal with the Emperor of Japan and train their army to use guns in order to destroy the Samurai. The army goes into battle against the Samurai, where Algren is captured and taken to the Samurai’s home. Once nursed back to health, he begins to learn and value the ways of the Samurai. With the next battle between the Emperor’s Army and Samurai looming overhead, Algren is forced to choose where his loyalty lies. 

Review: Overall, I thought this movie was a great watch! I loved how many of the characters spoke Japanese throughout (with English subtitles). I really enjoyed Watanabe’s performance as well. I feel this movie was an interesting take on the Civil War-era and the emergence of firearms. I enjoyed the battle scenes a lot and it’s an even mix between battle scenes and dialogue. I highly recommend this film! 

Overall, I thought this film was phenomenal and I plan on adding it to my collection.

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Deadpool 2 (2018)

Directed by: David Leitch  Written by: Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick Starring: Ryan Reynolds and Josh Brolin  Overall Rating: 9/10

Summary: Deadpool (Reynolds) is back! This time Cable (Brolin) shows up and tries to assassinate a villain before the villain truly becomes evil. Also, Deadpool decides it’s time (hahah get it??) to put together a team...the X Force! Withe appearances by our favorites from the first Deadpool and some fresh faces, this film is just as great as the original! (sorry the summary is rough...I don’t want to spoil anything by giving too many details away). 

Review: I truly enjoyed this movie! It was just the right amount of action and comedy, and just the right amount of fight scenes. The only thing I wish was that there was more X-Force involved and that we saw more of Domino and the X-Men. Also, I wish they would’ve edited TJ Miller out (I know they said he won’t be in the next one), I just hated seeing him in such a great movie. I feel like this movie really captured the comic book Deadpool (much like the first) and Ryan Reynolds’ performance was incredible!

Overall, I will be adding this to my collection and plan on watching it again! 

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Comic Book Villains (2002)

Directed by: James Dale Robinson  Written by: James Dale Robinson Starring: DJ Qualls, Donal Logue, Michael Rapaport, Natasha Lyonne  Overall score: 3/10

Summary: This film follows Ray (Logue) and Norman (Rapaport) who run two rival comic book stores in the same small town. Ray runs his store out of his love for comics and Norman runs his to make money. Archie (Qualls) is actually the star of the film; he’s loyal to Ray’s store and is completely enamored with him. When, both Ray and Norman hear about a Holy Grail collection that belonged to a recently deceased man, all hell breaks loose. Both men are willing to do anything to get their hands on the valuable collection. 

Review: I originally selected to watch this film because I love comic books. However, this clearly wasn’t written by someone who likes comics. Everyone was the same “outsider/loser” stereotype in the film, which was annoying. FYI, if you don’t know many comic lovers, this stereotype is false. A major issue I had was that Ray smoked a pipe in his store; anyone who knows comics knows that smoking around ones you hope to sell is a big no-no. It completely devalues the books and can cause discoloration in the older books. Ray also has the audacity to call out another character for reading an old comic with his bare hands (the oils from our fingers are damaging). I feel like this movie was kind of all over the place and filled with plotholes. I don’t want to spoil anything, but there are a couple of things that happen in the film and make absolutely no sense. When the movie ends, you know about the same amount about the characters as you do in the first 10 minutes of the movie. 

Overall, this movie was okay, sort of. I won’t watch it again. 

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Sorry I haven’t posted any reviews lately...school has me swamped. I will be posting one tomorrow! Any suggestions?? 

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Donna + the staircase 

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Movies I Love:

This will be a regularly updated list filled with movies that I love and highly recommend! 

1) Stuck in Love 2) The Martian  3) Chef 4) The Avenger 5) Captain America First Avenger 6) Captain America Civil War 7) Black Panther 8) Wonder Woman 9) Glory Road 10) Jumanji  11) Harry Potter (all of them) 12) The Hobbit Trilogy (my favorite is The Unexpected Journey) 13) This is where I leave you 14) Little Miss Sunshine 15) Forrest Gump 16) Carol 17) Ocean’s 8 18) Star Wars (all of them; my favorites are a New Hope and Force Awakens) 19) The Secret Life of Walter Mitty 20) Bridesmaids  21) School of Rock 22) The Martian Child

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Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald (2018) dir. David Yates

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Interstellar (2014)

Director: Christopher Nolan Written by: Jonathan Nolan, Christopher Nolan Starring: Matthew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway, Jessica Chastain  Genre: Science fiction  Overall score: 7.5/10

Summary: Earth is dying and it’s up to a team of explorers and scientists to save it. Cooper (McConaughey) and his team get sent into space in search of a new home planet to save the human race from extinction. 

Review: This movie did have several twists and turns that I didn’t see coming! I was never 100% sure about what was going on; which was both good and bad. The length of the movie (about 2.5 hours) felt a lot longer than it actually was. However, the cast’s performance was incredible. The only bad thing was that I wished they explained things a little more clearly; I was never sure how much time went by until the end or what happened to certain characters. I also felt the ending was a little rushed. 

Overall, I have this movie in my collection. This was my first viewing and I think I’ll view it again since I know what it’s happening in it. 

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Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017)

Director: Martin McDonagh Written by: Martin McDonagh Starring: Frances McDormand, Woody Harrelson, Sam Rockwell  Overall score: 6/10

Summary: This movie follows a mother (McDormand) who is fed up with the police’s handling of her daughters brutal murder. As a way to light a fire (see what I did there??) under the police department she puts up three billboards about her daughter; this thoroughly enrages the police and the majority of the small town they live in. 

Review: Even though the billboards are about the daughters murder, they spend almost no time discussing it. I felt like this movie jumped around too much for my taste and never dove into anyways story too much. It was one of those films that you spend confused a lot of the time and still end up feeling like the movie is unfinished as the credits rolled. I enjoyed the movie for the most part and would’ve loved to see more of Woody Harrelson! 

Overall, it was a pretty good film, but I feel like it’s one of those movies that I'll only watch once. I will not be adding it to my collection. 

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Molly’s Game (2017)

Directed by: Aaron Sorkin Written by: Aaron Sorkin and Molly Bloom (yes, same Molly from the title) Starring: Jessica Chastain, Idris Elba, Kevin Costner Overall Score: 7/10

Summary: This movie is based on a true story about Molly Bloom. Molly (Jessica Chastain) is a former competitive skier who finds herself involved in helping with a poker game amongst the who’s who of Hollywood. She eventually starts running her own game (hence the title Molly’s Game) and runs into some pretty shady people. The movie goes back and forth between the past (running poker games) and the present (standing trial for running an illegal gambling circuit).

Review: The character of Molly is very intriguing; she’s extremely smart which the movie oddly doesn’t focus on too much. Jessica Chastain does an excellent job starring in this movie. I truly believe she could be the only person in a movie and it would be phenomenal. Anyways, back to the film. Idris Elba also delivers an incredible performance as does Kevin Costner. The strengths come from the story itself: it’s incredible that this actually happened to someone and they lived to tell the tale. The storytelling of the movie keeps you on the edge of your seat. The weaknesses of this movie include it jumped around a lot. I understood that they were trying to tell the story from Molly’s present day predicament (being on trial), however I didn’t enjoy the back and forth. I would’ve rather they told it from the beginning and keeping the same timeline. I also feel like there were some plot holes that the movie skipped over (I won’t go into detail as to avoid spoilers). 

Overall, I did enjoy the movie. I found the story to be entertaining and the fact that it actually happened is insane! However, I don’t think I will be adding it to my collection because I feel like it’s one of those one watch only films.

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The Mummy (2017)

Director: Alex Kurtzman  Genre: Action/Adventure Starring: Tom Cruise, Sofia Boutella, Annabelle Wallis 

Overall Rating: 7/10

Summary: Nick Morton (Cruise) inadvertently frees Ahmanet (Boutella) from her tomb leading to him becoming her new “chosen”, aka the vessel she plans to use to unleash Set upon the world. 

Review: Boutella shines in an otherwise underwhelming film. What could’ve been something great, instead was riddled with potholes and a seemingly random appearance by Mr. Hyde (Russell Crowe). Strong points: the movie did an excellent forming Ahmanet’s background story. Boutella’s performance as Ahmanet was phenomenal. Also, there were a few really exciting scenes.  I wish they would’ve explained Henry Jekyll a little more and tied it in, instead Russell Crowe’s appearance felt random and unnecessary. I also wasn’t in favor of the choice of Tom Cruise for the lead role. Also, the ending wasn’t great and came off as cheesy. 

Overall, I did end up adding this movie to my collection because it’s an easy watch and does has some exciting moments.

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Sorry I haven’t post in the last two days, school has been crazy and I’m joining my university’s production club! I will have another review up by tomorrow night!

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THE SPECTACULAR NOW (2013)

DIR: James Ponsoldt

Not sure why, for five years now, everyone neglected to tell me there was a cute, coming-of-age romance produced by A24 but whatever!!

THE SPECTACULAR NOW is a simple film. Sutter (Miles Teller) is a popular alcoholic dating Cassidy (Brie Larson) who is another wild and popular high schooler. They break up and he finds Aimee (Shailene Woodley). Despite the fact she is a quiet nerd, and thus they are totally different people, they fall in love. They help each other; they change each other; and they struggle through family issues, school, and heartbreak.

I love the casting of this film. Miles Teller is adorable and he had this role in the palm of his hand. I loved seeing Brie Larson in this AND Mary Elizabeth Winstead (hello, Scott Pilgrim reunion). I love them both in everything and seeing them in this film was such a nice surprise. Jennifer Jason Leigh, although not seen on screen often, was a standout as Sutter’s mom. I don’t really like Shailene Woodley (and I never have) but she does bring a quiet awkwardness to the role of Aimee, and I support her and Sutter as a couple.

What else I love about this film is the realism with which it takes on high school subjects. This is not a dumb teenage movie and it’s not outlandish. It’s something I can see happening (and things like this have happened in real life). It deals seriously with the fun side and negative effects of partying. It shows the difficulties of school and the nerves about college and the future. Emotionally, it presents real family issues and how they impact kids. Much like Lady Bird, it felt like something teens could relate to because it doesn’t feel forced or unrealistic.

Finally, the cinematography was really beautiful. Part of the reason this movie felt real instead of like a dumb teenager movie was because of the tone of the film. Its muted color palette and beautiful shots made it feel meaningful and like I was watching reality play out on screen.

After watching this, I think it’s one of my more well-liked A24 films. Also, I would like to read the book it is based on. THE SPECTACULAR NOW is a good film and story, and the title tells us to focus on the present because of just how wonderful it can be.

**AVAILABLE FOR STREAMING ON NETFLIX**

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I AM SO EXCITED FOR THIS!

CAPTAIN MARVEL TEASER POSTER!

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What movies should I watch next?

I’m open to suggestions!! Let me know!