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I expected to scoff at this entire movie and instead I only scoffed at the first third. The premise of Lebron's son being some NBA Jam inventing wunderkind, and Lebron being the regimented dad who couldn't see the literal genius behind him was just so dumb. It was the most paint by numbers "I think I know what kids are into" setup they could have went with, and Lebron's acting only made it sillier.

But once they got into the Looney Tune world, there were some decent chuckles. I'm a sucker for the Looney-style slapstick and some of the references to other WB properties landed, even if most were lazy. People consider the gratuitous referencing/advertising to be ruinous to the movie, forgetting their was a scene in the original where Daffy kissed his own ass with a Warner Brothers logo on it. At least there was more effort than THAT in this one.

The best parts of the movie are Lebron and Bugs gathering the Looney Tunes team together. The stuff before that was awful. After, the game itself went too long and there wasn't as much comedy as I was expecting there, but it was fine. Not nearly as entertaining as the original but I'd say it did it's job. And the ending was just there. Nothing to it.

Overall though I think there is plenty of stuff here for kids to enjoy and JUST enough old school Looney humor and references to make adults not hate their lives watching the movie. I think it's overhated by the weirdos that can't stop with Jordan/Lebron debates. Just take the movie for what it is, and it's not "good" but it's enjoyable.

Which is exactly what I would say about the original, by the way.

Some purests were put off by the disturbing implications of the hunter, but this is the first episode of the reboot that felt like a perfectly old school episode. The first few were great, but this was old school "Character has something against the Warner's so they troll the living bajeezus out of him". Fast paced and constantly funny Warner torture. The Greek games but was close but this one really stuck the landing. So good!

They did it. Those crazy sons of guns actually did it.

Thanks for the review, animated Goldblum.

For real though, the writers have managed to keep the animaniacs spirit alive and proved that they can slide into modern society and remain relevant as ever. The first episode does its job showing the animaniacs acclimating to the modern world and riffing on the glut of Hollywood remakes. I LOVE that this episode exists and I also love that it's just one episode.

From the second episode on, it's right to business as usual and it feels like the Warner Brothers, and the Warner Sister, never left.

This is how you do a remake, people. Love it.

I like that they gave the Mandalorian some personality, some good vistas and action setpieces, solid comedy, fun little additions to the Star Wars canon (bounty droids are officially awesome) and a general sense of adventure that I dig. It's all very small and big at the same time. All good stuff and I hope they can keep it up.

I especially appreciate the fact they employed the services of Carl Weathers

Every bit as crude and poorly made as I had hoped. It could serve as a "how not to make films 101" in the sheer amount of continuity errors, poor audio, bad acting, bad writing, bad camera cuts and even an instance of bad lip-syncing.

But you can tell the sheer amount of heart and passion that is at the core of this movie, to the point that even with all the violence, gratuitous nudity, and coarse language, there is this odd sense of wholesomeness that occupied the whole picture. There's something about a bunch of friends coming together and making a film with absolutely no clue how to do it, and now given the backstory thanks to Dolemite Is My Name, and knowing the challenges the crew went through as well as their ultimate triumph, I found myself really respecting everything about this hilariously bad film.

That was one hell of a run-on sentence.

I don't know if this will go down as an essential piece of cinema, but damn it's good.

Funny, just a bit tragic, but overall uplifting and fun. I enjoyed every single second watching it.

You can tell this was a labor of love for Eddie Murphy and all involved as it was perfectly presented and perfectly acted by all involved. Wesley Snipes was terrific. Mike Epps, DaVine Joy Randolph, Tituss Burgess, Kegan Michael-Key: the list of people who were fantastic in this movie is as long as the cast list itself. Eddie Murphy in particular should get at least some Oscar buzz. The period representation was top-notch from the fashion down to the film grain on screen. It's a blisteringly fast 2 hours, and a joyous watch.

I usually am not a fan of biopics or "based on a true story" type films because I feel like if I know what's going to happen, my interest inevitably wains. In this instance I was benefited by my woeful amount of ignorance on the life and career of Rudy Ray Moore.

Allow me to correct that now as I go watch the original Dolemite and an unhealthy amount of comedy albums.

This was excellent.

I usually try to avoid the disaster/monster movie genre. Ever since it exploded in the mid-late 90's, I always found them to be more gaudy and exploitative than legitimately compelling. Prioritizing neat effects over character development, these movies always leave me emotionally empty and uninterested. But this, this was good.

You know what I liked about it? It was intimate. No big monster, no dozens of people getting wiped out, no explosions, no skyscrapers getting demolished. Just two people, a basement and alligators. Not big mutant alligators. Regular ass bite your arm off scary enough on their own alligators. It's not Cloverfield. It's 10 Cloverfield Lane. And it's great.

This film succeeds through fantastic writing and great acting. Barry Pepper is a guy who can be 61* level fantastic or Battlefield Earth level awful. Not because he's a bad actor but because his movie choice is iffy and he's at the mercy of the people he's surrounded by. He chose well here as writers Shawn and Michael Rasmussen, despite a less than stellar track record deliver a fantastic script. The father/daughter dialogue that was essential to the film comes off completely natural and never slips into the territory of cliched.

I know that Kaya Scodelario has been around for years and was part of the Maze Runner series but I personally would not have been able to pick her out of a lineup of one before this movie. She's great. A lot of the movie involves her on her own in terrifying situations and she never comes off as a damsel in distress nor does she come off as an unrealistic badass. Just a normal person fighting for survival. She's great doing that and is equally great showing off her relationship with Pepper.

Their relationship carries the film. Supplanted by damn fine camera work and surprisingly good effects, you begin to feel for them and root for their survival. And when you pull that off as so many lesser horror movies fail to do, the tension is tense, and hell, even the jump scares are scary. You have to make us care FIRST. And then the horror works wonders.

Crawl is a stylish, well written, and well performed horror flick, escaping the pitfalls of the majority of disaster movies to deliver a perfectly paced, perfectly fun 85 minute thrill ride. I can't reccomend it enough

When you take a couple minute long comedy bit and try to stretch it to a feature film, you can either get Wayne's World or MacGruber.

This is MacGruber.

The saving grace is that the interview segments are funny for the most part, but the plot connecting those segments is the problem. It has a couple funny moments but the majority of it was not funny or endearing to me. Really, it comes off as a mediocre copy of The Office style-wise, which if you are head over heels in love with that comedy style to the point where a diet version is enough for you, you may get more out of it than me.

But this movie's on Netflix. You know what else is on Netflix?

The Office. Just watch that.

When you see a movie that has split reviews of 10 stars, calling it brilliant and 1 star, calling it an abominable dumpster fire, the truth is probably somewhere in the middle.

This is an instance of exactly that.

Unlike most, I actually dug the premise. Instead of the doll being possessed, it was a malfunctioning AI that listens to what you have to say and interprets it in the worst possible ways. As someone with a healthy concern for AI, why not? I'm with it.

The one casualty of this is that since the doll doesn't take the personality of a psychotic adult and instead is much more robotic, a lot of the crass humor of the original Chucky is gone, making this film a whole lot less (intentionally) funny.

However, the degredation of Chucky's programming in this movie is paced really well and for the most part works, a lot of the deaths are pretty creative and the tension scenes are pulled off much better than they had any right to. I was expecting to scoff at most of the movie and instead I watched the whole thing silently, happily so. It was a quick and perfectly consumable horror flick.

Perfect though, it is not. Some of the moments stretch logic beyond the limit, some of the dialogue is a bit meh and the ending is kinda weak, but awful? Nah. Maybe it's the low expectations but as a horror movie it's completely solid. Best one I've seen this year no doubt, which I guess is easy when the only other one I've seen this year was It Chapter 2, but this is sincerely enjoyable.

The first It wasn't scary, but it was fun watching the kids interact with each other and having their friendship grow. Like the Goonies but with a killer clown.

The reason it wasn't scary however is that it relied too much on predictable jump scares and not enough on taking its time and genuinely creeping the audience out. 99% of horror elements consisted of look at something - dramatic pause - jump scare and loud noises. Rinse and repeat. A jump scare isn't something that genuinely scares someone, it's just a reflex. To really scare someone you genuinely have to creep them out and there were moments like that: the Georgie scene in the beginning, Bev's abusive father, etc. But they were few and far between.

This chapter doubles down on these weak elements of the first It movie, mixes in a gratuitous amount of CGI, and loses a lot of the charm of the Goonies since they're adults now. Although completely capably acted by all the adults and their chemistry still works well, it's not as endearing the second time around, with grown ups. To boot the best thing about the Loser Squad is always their interactions with each other but instead a large portion of the middle of the film is them all on their own for individual rinse and repeat jumpscare scenes. An entire block of scenes that to me, in a three hour film, should have been cut.

So with It Chapter Two you have a movie that still isn't particularly terrifying, and when compared to the first one, it's bad elements are even more plentiful, and it's good elements aren't as good. A proper formula for a dissapointing sequel.

Average in every facet of filmmaking, particularly in the acting and cinematography departments. But for some reason the sum of all it's parts is an engrossing movie that just works.

Highly recommend if you are okay with a bit of a slow burn.

Another satisfying entry in what has rapidly become one of my favorite current franchises.

The lower emotional gravitas of the plot itself is more than made up for with the heightened creativity and variety of action sequences, as well as a fantastic Matrix reunion.

The sum of it's parts is a film that I would even put slightly over the first entry, and one that makes me eagerly anticipate the third.

Good stuff.

One of my favorite comedies, one of my favorite action movies, and by far my favorite foreign film, this is a perfect piece of cinema and one of the very few where I don't hate my life having to read subtitles. Not a moment wasted, it is equal parts engrossing emotionally and perpetually entertaining. You will spend every moment either laughing, marveling at the fight scenes or buying into the simple but effective backstory. Oftentimes you will be doing a combination of those things. I love, love, love, love, love it.

"It always fits, eventually"

The reason I am tough on superhero movies, is (believe it or not) not because I'm a "hater". It's because in a world of superhero universes, and every super hero movie following similar formulas, blending into one another, and setting up for the next entries in a gigantic machine, it is simply not enough to just be a good superhero movie.

With Marvel in particular, the majority of the movies are good to very good, which while of course being the reason for the series' massive success, it also makes individual films stand out less and less from each other as they all melt into one big pot, where each component blends into a stew where nothing is allowed to stand out from the pack and offer anything particularly groundbreaking or unique. The brief opportunities where a Marvel film actually does something we legitimately haven't seen before are invariably the best parts of the series, before those things of course get done again and again in sequels until it loses it's impact.

When I get out of a Marvel movie, even one that I liked a lot, I am wary of giving it 10 stars. To me, 10 stars should represent the best in cinema. Something that was truly unique, perfectly written, technically game-changing, emotionally satisfying, and stands truly on its own without the need for prior or subsequent films.

If I give 10 stars to the next spoke in the Marvel wheel, knowing that no matter how good it is, it's impact will wain over a short period of time, what rating do I give a superhero movie that truly stands out? One that separates itself from the afore-mentioned homogenized melting pot that is modern super hero films to deliver not only one of the best Marvel Films, but one of the truly best films I have ever seen?

What rating, do I give Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse?

I am glad I had the foresight to call Spider-Man: Homecoming my favorite LIVE-ACTION version of Spider-Man. If I hadn't added the live-action bit, that review would have been out of date in less than a day. Because holy newborn infant Jesus, this movie is special.

There isn't a single element of this film that is "just okay". Every single thing works. Every single thing is above average. The animation is a game-changer, the musical score is fantastic, the writing is top-notch, the emotion is genuine, the plot is enjoyable, the pacing is perfect, the comedy is actually funny.

Every solitary bit, even stuff that would have been absolutely ridiculous in another film -in particularly the trio of Penni Parker, John Mulaney as Spider-Ham and most wonderfully, Nicholas Cage as Spider-Man Noir- not only came off as merely "acceptable", but as enhancing elements. Miles Morales' story while also being a perfect anchor to the crazy directions the story goes in, is great in it's own right and throughout the runtime is a source for genuine emotion and inspiration. His relationships with his father, uncle and later to a wonderful degree, Peter B. Parker are great driving forces as Miles starts off trying to find his way in the world and later has to handle the pressure of being a new Spider-Man, having to measure up to the Spider-Men, Women... and pigs, not only of his dimension, but all dimensions. You truly feel for this kid and when he has his moment of finally BECOMING Spider-Man, I felt something that I have barely felt throughout hours and hours and hours and hours and hours of other Marvel films: actual emotion.

I cannot state enough just how special this film is and I can count the ways until the end of time. THIS is why I often am lukewarm toward superhero movies. Because when one that is truly special and unique and comes along, I want to be able to shout it from a mountaintop that THIS is what I'm looking for. THIS is a perfect superhero movie today.

I know most people consider this to be the most accurate live-action version of Spider-Man, but as someone who isn't a big fan of Marvel Comics, I can't personally confirm that.

What I can personally confirm is that this is easily my favorite live-action version of Peter Parker and Spider-Man. Tom Holland's portrayal of a high-school aged kid who is naturally brilliant but in over his head after being randomly blessed with enormous power, comes off far more naturally than Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield. He's always believable and enjoyable to watch on screen.

As for the movie itself though, I thought it was decent overall. I personally didn't like how long the movie spent making Peter look foolish performing basic tasks. It was endearing for the first 20-30 minutes but it took well over an hour for him to turn that corner. I also didn't like that Peter comes off more or less as Iron Man Jr, complete with a literal Iron Man suit. Again, for me it took too much time to get him out of that and become more Spider-Man than mini Iron Man.

It's a common issue with Marvel films that they're a tad over-long. I like Tony Stark as a mentor to Peter. It makes sense and worked. But if it took 60 minutes for Peter to shed the Iron Man fantasies and embrace his skin as the friendly neighborhood Spider-Man instead of 90, it would have been a tighter and I believe better picture.

Then there were a couple of moments of dramatic conveniences that were a tad too much for me. Michael Keaton just happening to lose his job salvaging Stark Tower and also just happening to be the father of the girl Peter takes to homecoming? That really walked the line of being a bit too much and entering "come on, man" territory. It took me a minute or two to shake off that latter convenience in particular.

Those issues are outwieghed by the things I liked about the film, however. As mentioned, I love Tom Holland as Peter and to an extent I like the mentorship role Tony Stark plays. I also liked, however cliched, the high school elements of the story. They're well done, especially compared to previous iterations.

The thing I loved the most however, is Michael Keaton as The Vulture. Although the Stark Tower thing was a bit of a logical leap, it made perfect sense as motivation for an actual character, and that's what Vulture is here. He was on the brink of ruin for himself and his family and out of an act of desperation he turned to a life of crime. His turn from being a desperate man resorting to desperate measures to a man embracing being a "bad guy" was a bit too quick (we don't see much of a mental degradation) but Keaton plays what he was given flawlessly. His main fight scene with Spidey was good too.

Also Zendaya is a better MJ than Kirsten Dunst by merely existing.

And I'll never get tired of looking at Marissa Tomei, so there's that.

Overall I liked the movie, but it's one that more makes me interested to see future iterations of this Spider-Man than it was one that will stand out to me on it's own.

Aka, the Marvel formula.

(There is one minor spoiler here that does not involve the ending sequence of the film or the main portion of the plotline. It's still a satisfying moment when you don't know it's coming however, so be warned)

Well this was all kinds of dope.

The trap that most horror movie sequels fall in is that they try to "explain" the villain. Dive into their backstory, learn more about who they were as kids, what made them turn to a life of crime and ultimately learn how can this be used to defeat them now. You know what the problem with that is? It NECESSARILY makes the villain less scary when you peel back their characterization as "evil monster" and change it to "damaged kid".

The beginning of this movie teases that it's going to fall into this trap as we meet reporters who are trying to explain Michael Myers, humanize him, and find out what his triggers are. I began the film worried that this was the rout the movie was gonna take, but instead you know what happens to those reporters? They get murdered. Michael murdered the crap out of them. He murdered their asses, brutally and beautifully. It was in that moment that I knew this film was in the hands of people that knew what made Michael Myers scary. Michael Myers isn't a little boy looking for his mommy's approval. He's a barely human killing machine. This point is further proven with a very satisfying kill later on.

The other trap a lot of horror sequels fall in is a certain shift from dramatic tension to over the top action and violence. The original Halloween is a movie that exemplified doing more with less. Since it had roughly the budget of a ham sandwich, it succeeded with outstanding direction, storytelling and tension building, and less with special effects and action. Now that Halloween is an established name of course, it stood to reason that this film might overdo it with the big action scenes and stunning effects associated with having actual money to spend, but forget to actually remember the strength of the Halloween franchise.

This film masterfully avoids this trap as well. When Myers is back in town on the 31st, it feels like a true update of the original, the proverbial "Halloween on a budget". There are more kills, more gore and more neat camera tricks. While cool, if the movie kept it here it would have felt like a good but slightly less scary retread of the original. However, instead after they get this classic Halloween goodness out of the way, the climax of the film takes place not in town, but a more claustrophobic location. And here the tension is cranked up to 11. This genius move gave the audience the best of both worlds: the original Halloween with modern flavor, yet maintaining sequences of palpable tension and fear.

The most succinct, and the best thing I can say is that we have a horror movie sequel here that truly "gets" what made the original great and created a film that respects it while not feeling like a retread. The characters make sense and their actions and motivations are fully consistent with their original portrayals. The acting, particularly from Jamie Lee Curtis was top notch and even 40 years later I wound up fully satisfied and buying into this as a true continuation of the Halloween story. It avoids the traps that plague most horror sequels and delivers a film that is entertaining, engrossing and best of all, scary.

It is, quite simply, one of the best horror movie sequels of all time.

I went into this thinking it was going to be a straightforward film, providing a grounded and realistic interpretation of what it is like going through a depression. Like Lady Bird, but with the aforementioned subject matter rather than adolescence.

And for the first 30 minutes, it is. Melanie Lynskey (who don't let her most known role as Rose on Two and A Half Men fool you, is a great actress. Shame she isn't in more stuff) is in dark place, going through the motions of life and wondering what the reason even is to continue. When she isn't going through life's monotonies, bad things are happening to her and she is finding it difficult to find a single benevolent person to come to her aid and give her even a shed of faith in humanity. After her house is robbed she forms a strange little relationship with Elijah Wood's (most famous for being the kid in North and nothing else) character. Together they go on a mission to recover her stolen items.

But after that straightforward but enjoyable set up, things get weird. Really really really f-ing weird. The movie takes a radical shift in tone and becomes a completely different movie. Several completely different movies in fact.

Seriously this movie is freaking bananas. It almost feels like it's trying to be a dozen movies in one: a grounded drama, a mystery thriller, an action film, a heist film, a comedy, even an adventure movie. It's an absurd mess and frankly I can't tell if it's controlled chaos or pure insanity. All I know is that it's mind numbingly strange.

But this weirdness and sheer subversion of my expectations made me kind of love this film. And hate it. And love it.

I recommend it to no one. Don't watch it. It's great.

Yeah this one wasn't working for me, dawg.

It's been a while since I found myself at such a disconnect between the public and critical view of a movie and my own interpretation. Not since Dunkirk I think.

Either way much like that one I can see why people liked this movie and I don't have any issue with the fact people do, it just didn't work for me. There's no real advantage to being the guy who doesn't like the beloved movie and I'm not really in the mood to go into laborious detail to explain why I DON'T like something, hence why most of my detailed reviews are positive as well as most of my reviews in general. I don't want to do this review at all and the least effort I put into it, the better honestly. So I'm just going to do this review in a pros/cons list format.

Things I liked about the movie:

• The environmental effects are really nice.

• Oscar Isaac was good in it, because he's Oscar Isaac.

• For the most part, Natalie Portman was good in it.

• A couple of the tense scenes were indeed quite tension-filled. Two in particular.
• The first scene where video footage is found of Oscar Isaac's crew descending into madness, complete with a highly disturbing scene of a crew member's stomach being cut open to show that his internal organs are moving.
• The mutated bear attack scene in the house was freaky, tense and legitimately compelling. If every scene were like that we'd have no problem here.

• The premise itself, a growing orb likely to consume the world if unchecked, where inside all DNA is refracted and distorted, while not the most unique thing on the planet, is interesting and can be done well, and there were glimpses of it being done well here.

• The ending (although they basically gave away the surprises 5 minutes before the surprises) was well done and saved me from being truly merciless on the film.

Now the bad news:

• The trailer was bad. It should have ended right before they ENTERED the shimmer. It would have been so much more interesting if the audience came into the movie wondering what was going to be inside. Roland Emmerich has been getting butts into the seats for his terrible films with this style of marketing for years. He can't make movies for the life of him, but he can make trailers. So as someone who saw the trailer multiple times during previews, I fully admit I was put off from the getgo. Then again although I was put off from The Post due to the trailer, I admitted it was better than the trailer made it look, although still not particularly good. But that movie ultimately was tonally different from how the trailer made it seem. With this one, save the ending and a couple details, if you saw the trailer, you saw the movie.

• It took a bit too long to get into the shimmer. It would have been fine if in the near hour of exposition leading up to it, the film created more interesting characters than just Isaac and Portman, but pretty much everyone else in the movie is disposable... and was disposed of.

• In my opinion, the acting performances from any of our female leads who's name didn't rhyme with Shmatalie Shmortman, were either unremarkable, or flat-out bad. Unfortunately, I thought Jennifer Jason Leigh, an actor who has been in other movies, and has been good in some of them, fell into the latter portion. She seemed to deliver all of her lines in a sarcastic tone, even when it seemed ill-befitting the moment or worse, unintentional.
• In the middle of their fight for survival, she finds a video cassette with writing to the effect of "for those that follow". Her response: "Hrmph... I guess that means us." If I'm in the crew I'm like: "Not the time for sarcasm, jerkface." That's what I would say. Jerkface. I'm a badass.

• Basically all the dialogue in the movie is spoken in whisper, even when they're not in the shimmer. I always find that really annoying in movies. Comes off as pretentious. That's probably a me-only issue but when every line of dialogue is performed in a quiet tone to make them seem meaningful, it takes the drama away from the actual dramatic moments.

• So much unrealistic dialogue.

• "In a way it's two bereavements. Losing my daughter, and losing the person I once was". Nobody. Talks. Like. That.

• A disturbing video portraying a man having his stomach cut open to reveal his intestines moving around like a snake. Professional medic: "That was a trick of the light." There's being in denial and then there's being a moron.

• Ultimately unnecessary flashback scenes that basically only served as trailer footage. Think the Batman in the desert scene from Batman v. Superman. A few of them provide decent exposition, but most of them were needless.

• Shephard, recipient of the esteemed "worst actress in the movie" award and deliverer of the great "two bereavements" line during a scene of exposition vomit on a canoe, is attacked by a mutated bear and very clearly has a 0% chance of survival. However, Natalie Portman declares "we have to make sure", just so she can go out on her own and we can get a trailer shot of two white cartoon deer. And the payoff to this scene... HOLY CRAP... she's dead. Speaking of the cartoon deer...

• Although the environment effects are beautiful, most of the creature effects are anything but. In any scene where there is bright lighting they look cartoonish and not really there. The good bear attack scene was aided by the fact that it took place during the night time. But the stuff with the deers, or the gator attack, didn't look very good.

• At the beginning, Portman's character is asked what happened to the crew. She says "I don't know". She then proceeds to explain exactly what happened to the crew in detail throughout the events of the film.

• The big monster at the end of it all is a machine that creates clones of people to the tune of weird psychedelic rock music... meh. It's completely superficial of course but just for me personally it was a little bit of a letdown.

• The scene of Portman interacting with her clone was effective, but why did the clone wait until it had a grenade in it's hands to stop mimicking Portman's movements? Shouldn't it have ran alongside Portman at the same time, ultimately blowing both of them up? I think it would have been a far more effective ending if Portman sacrificed herself in order to kill the threat anyway, but that would have required some actual bravery on the part of the filmmaker.

• The big bad menace is defeated with a grenade. I wish one of these thriller movies would actually end with a clever way to defeat the monster at the end, not conventional weaponry. Same problem with War of the Worlds. A pretty decent thriller and a threatening menace, and how is it finally taken down? A bazooka. Again, a me problem only. That's why I'm not saying the movie is bad. I'm saying it didn't work for me personally.

• The final Oscar Isaac video makes it clear that there's a pretty decent chance that he isn't the real one. Kinda takes the piss out of the twist.

Maybe it's just the New York City tap water because despite the glowing reviews, in my theater there were a couple walkouts and some chirping of "this is stupid" behind me. But me and this film were just never in sync. It came off as a movie desperately wanting to be more smart and meaningful than it actually was.

One person clapped. I'm happy for them.

This is the part where the pasty white guy says something dangerously close to: "There's no way I could be racist. I have a black friend."

So growing up in Brooklyn, some of my better friends have lived their lives constantly effected by the remnants of institutionalized racism and racism in general. And denying that racism has infected all walks of life, including Hollywood, and continues to do so, is to be perpetuating a fallacy. You need to have some bulletproof blinders on in order to believe anything else. Under-representation of black culture and whitewashing is an easily traceable pattern in Hollywood. Multiple black actors is a rare sight in a film, unless the film is about sports or slavery. I agree that the overly PC culture we live in can go too far in it's demands for "social justice" and in it's outrage where it isn't truly warranted, but facts are facts and the annoying nature of some "SJWs" doesn't alter said facts.

Now, as a middle class white man who grew up seeing racial injustice but never truly living through it, I found the idea of a Marvel super hero movie set in Africa and consisting nearly entirely of black main and supporting actors refreshing and interesting. However, for my friends it was far more than that. It was a source of pride and extreme emotional investment. Even now just looking at their Facebook wall you would see the positive impact that the very existence of this film has on their lives and continues to do so. And that's a beautiful thing. I want every movie I watch to have that effect on me and am thrilled when a movie, even one I don't personally like, has that effect on anyone.

However, that emotional impact, those Facebook posts, the glowing reviews and everything else surrounding this film's release, as happy as it made me for people I care about, is the exact reason I waited a little bit to watch it. Because this movie had all the hype in the universe, and hype culture is a terrible thing with no true benefit to any moviegoer. If you hype yourself into thinking a movie's going to be a 10, and it's a 9, you will be disappointed. If you go in thinking it will be a 5, and it's a 6, you'll be pleasantly surprised. I had to go back into "5" mode before I decided to see this.

So I managed to go into this film with weathered expectations and a constant mind to the things I typically don't like about Marvel films, instead of the hype. Even though I love the idea of this film and am happy that it's an overwhelming triumph financially, none of it mattered to me if it didn't succeed as a film on it's own merits.

It did.

The movie has the three main problems that I have with all Marvel movies: too long, CGI porn and containing bad one liners that take the drama away from a scene. However this movie was one of the lesser offenders in the MCU in those regards. There's only one or two of the lame drama-cutting jokes (and although this joke wasn't of that variety, any "what are those" jokes deserve to rot in the deepest circle of hell). To boot, although the movie felt a tiny bit long, looking back I can't think of any particular thing that could have been cut. I originally thought the Oakland stuff could have been cut, but they paid that stuff off in a big way at the end. I originally though the "challenge" scene didn't need to be there, but it served as a lesson in a Wakandan culture and provided context to later events, so no problem there. Ultimately I can't complain too much about the length. And it's a Marvel movie so CGI porn is CGI porn and it's there and there can't be much done about it. However the warrior culture and natural backdrops of Wakanda make for much more clear and enjoyable battle scenes overall.

The story here is simple but effective: T'Challa is a new King after the death of his father. With the changing landscape of the world, the discovery of a stolen artifact and the eventual arrival of Killmonger, he is emburdened with the question of whether Wakanda's technology should be shared with the world, a new threat and the realization of his father's greatest failing. The movie is paced well, makes sense, is greatly performed, the score is excellent and best of all the isolationist nature of Wakanda meant the film wasn't burdened with gratuitous references to other Marvel movies, much like how the setting of Wonder Woman worked in it's favor.

I knew Chadwick Boseman was a great actor and an excellent Black Panther after his previous turn as him in Civil War, but whether he could carry the main duties in a film was yet to be seen, and he was great here. Emotional yet powerful, serious yet charismatic, and believable. He has great chemistry with all of his co-stars and really fits the bill as a leading man. Michael B. Jordan as Killmonger continues to check marks on his rise to superstardom, creating something as rare as a unicorn: a compelling villain in a Marvel movie. His upbringing is laid bare and it makes his pain, anger and motivation completely understandable. He isn't trying to take over Wakanda because "I'm the antagonist"; he's doing so because he wants both revenge on the world, and in his own mind, to save it. In the context of the film, you definitely feel for him. Also as a child raised in Oakland California in the 90s, his juxtaposition with the African people of Wakanda makes for an intriguing contrast.

The supporting cast members are all noteworthy in their own right. I especially enjoyed Letitia Wright as Shuri. She was the funniest castmember, often quick with a one-liner that lands, and never obnoxiously so save for that "what are those" travesty. She never felt like a caricature or a stock "funny" character. Just a witty character with a sense of humor. Later in the film, when she had to be serious, she was.

In the end, even ignoring the poison to balanced expectations that is hype culture, what you have with Black Panther it a well-paced, well-acted and well-told story and a bona-fide standout among Marvel movies, limiting the little annoyances that plague most of them. If there is an extra emotional element to you personally, even better.

This was nice.

As far as mainstream comedy film goes, this was as good as it gets. I went to this film on a recommendation with only the knowledge that Jason Bateman was in it, which is fine. That's the only motivation one should need to see a film, because Jason Bateman is the man.

But because I went into this film not knowing much about it and ended up endlessly entertained, I would want any readers of this to experience the same way, so I'm going to go light on the plot. Jason Bateman and the unexpectedly to me hi-fucking-larious Rachel McAdams are a couple that fell in love due to their fiercely competitive nature. They are both serious when it comes to games and once they are a couple, they are unbeatable together.

Now married, Bateman's brother comes to town much to his chagrin. His brother is a rich and successful Playboy and the only person that Bateman has not measured up to competitively. Soon after, Bateman's brother invites the couple as well as their normal party guests to a game night at his house. But as it so happens, it is far from your normal game night and soon our characters find themselves in over their heads in the quest to solve a great mystery.

That's all I'm giving you plot wise.

I wouldn't call this film "smart" the way others have called it. There are a couple plot holes (or at least muddy bits of plot that could have been explained better), seemingly ham fisted twists and more than your average dramatic conveniences. But compared to most mainstream comedies, this is Citizen freaking Kane.

Where this film is indeed very smart though is in the dialogue and creativity. The film is a non-stop joke factory and the vast majority land. All the main actors here have great chemistry and comedic timing with one another, and the writing is so funny that you will not spend any significant length of time not laughing or smiling. To boot the characters will find themselves in some truly absurd and hilarious situations, some of which had me in stitches. In fact this is easily the most I have laughed at a film in quite some time, especially in a theater.

Jason Bateman's comedic delivery is at it's typical brilliance here, but Rachel McAdams blew me away with her performance. I am not too familiar with her work and although I've seen comedies with her in them, I've never seen her be the funny character in those comedies. Here, she shines with completely natural comedic timing, whether it be her witty comebacks, her selling of the absurdity of situations, or her physical comedy. She impressed the hell out of me.

Joining our married couple on their grand mission are four supporting characters who serve as the regular game night party guests. Wrapped up into this unexpected situation, they all have a role to play in solving the mystery, and they are all super funny, both in their own right, and when bouncing off their fellow partygoers.

Sometimes it's nice to go to a theater and simply be pleasantly surprised and entertained. That's rare nowadays, especially when it comes to comedies. To see a comedy that relies on good writing and character work, and not on bad improv, farts, sex, pop culture or any of the other go-tos and to have it actually be funny; well, it's simply such a breathe of fresh air. Go see this film if you just want to be entertained.

Oh and before this movie I couldn't tell you who Jesse Plemons was, but he looks like a discount Matt Damon and I love him.

Boilerplate, unremarkable, dull, overlong at only an hour and 45 minutes, mostly devoid of fun, not nearly as clever as it thinks it is, only one decent action scene, insane logical leaps, plot holes, and nearly Shyamalan-esque dialogue. But buried between the silliness and merely serviceable acting is enough B-movie charm and Liam Neeson being Liam Neeson to keep it from being a complete dumpster fire.

Twas quite good. Yes. Quite good.

I feel like I don't need to elaborate much more than that but I'll give it a shot.

This film reminds me of the good John Hughes. Not the Flubber and Home Alone 3 John Hughes. The Breakfast Club and Sixteen Candles John Hughes. The John Hughes that spoke to a generation of young people with heartfelt, funny and (mostly) authentic representations of what it meant to grow up and discover yourself.

While not quite as comedic as say Sixteen Candles, Lady Bird balances itself against the likes of those films by being even more grounded and real. And the result is an exceptionally well-told look into growing up. The sexual awakening, the drive for love and social acceptance, parental resentment and household imperfection, the desire to carve out the future you want for yourself while being constantly opposed by outside forces, achieving your goals only to realize it's not what it was cracked out to be. It's all here and I can't imagine it not relating to every person to some degree.

This movie's greatest strength is that it keeps it simple and takes it's time. It doesn't reach beyond it's means and try to tell years worth of story. It is a couple months of life, but it gives you so much detail and so much authenticity in those few months. The result is a 90 minute movie that told everything that needed to be told. It's shocking how hard of a time most films have trying to pull that off. Flawless pacing, short and sweet.

I appreciate that the protagonist of this film isn't a socially paralyzed introvert by the way, which is usually what you get when a middle aged man tries to make a relatable film for teenagers. It's such a trope at this point that it was cool that the protagonist was a girl who was comfortable around people, had experiences with guys, went to parties, had a lust for performance and generally didn't have trouble speaking up or making friends with popular kids, her selfish motivations for doing so notwithstanding. She had her moments of social dissonance, sure. We all have those. Everyone growing up in my school had a crush on Hermoine Granger. I was a Ginny Weasley guy. None of us are the same.

What you get when you show us someone that experiences BOTH social butterfly qualities and social awkwardness qualities while also humanizing the oft-demonized "popular" people is someone that's more universally relatable. Of course there is always the risk of trying to please everyone and instead pleasing no one but this film is so deftly written and directed that instead you get a character that everyone can connect with. It's very impressive.

While I said that the film isn't quite as funny as Sixteen Candles, this film has comedy in spades. It just also has tears, and the comedy stems more from the relatability of everyone involved and less from setups and punchlines. The best compliment I can give the film is this: the laughs come from the feeling of "lol that is so me" and the tears come from a feeling of "wow... that is so me." It's kinda remarkable.

Some might find themselves disappointed with what feels like an unsatisfactory cliffhanger ending, but I quite liked that bit too. This is an authentic representation of life, and the only ending to life is death. Since the main character doesn't die, it would be almost disingenuous for the film to treat the story told like it has an ending. Life goes on, as does this story after the screen goes black, likely for decades.

The movie isn't Earth-shattering and time will tell if it will stick with me or enter "t-minus one day" territory. But, for now I am very impressed with just how well-told and well-paced this movie is. It wasn't forced or contrived like I personally found similar films like "Little Miss Sunshine" and "Juno"; instead it comes off as effortlessly real, emotional and funny, although I'm sure a heck of a lot of effort went in to making it so.

It was quite good. Yes. Quite.

Hi.

Remember when I praised Three Billboards for feeling more like a true story than the overly romanticized films we usually get with movies that actually have ye old "based on a true story" moniker?

Exhibit A.

I begrudgingly went into this movie based on a recommendation after having been completely unimpressed by the trailer. And I will say this: it is way better than the trailer made it look.

I swear, it's almost like the company that put together that trailer had some kind of beef with DreamWorks and wanted the movie to flop. The trailer made it seem like a movie beating you over the head with a feminist message with the whole "Pentagon Papers" story being a small backdrop. I don't have any issue whatsoever with a film having a feminist message as "women can do jobs that men can do" should not be some kind of radical idea, but much like any film with a message, if you are lazy and heavy handed in your presentation of it, it's more of an annoyance than an inspiration. The trailers made it seem like it would be that. It's not. This is a representation of the true drama that unfolded during the publishing of the Pentagon Papers. The fact that the lead is a women for the most part is treated totally tactfully and respectfully.

So the movie itself: it's fine. It's not too long and at no point is it boring or uninteresting. It's fine. There were no scenes where I wanted to leave the theater. There were no scenes where I was on the edge of my seat and entirely enthralled. It was just... fine.

The story of the Pentagon Papers is an interesting one but it's not the most interesting one. If I were to describe the subject matter, it would be... fine. Tom Hanks is a great actor but he never really grows as a person or excells beyond caricature status in his role. If I were to describe his performance, it would be... fine, as were most performances in the film. The movie wasn't too long but there were definitely entire scenes that could be cut and felt like they were just in there for the trailer, such as the scene where Tom Hank's wife describes the bravery of Streep's character. If I were to describe the pacing of the film, it would be... fine.

The story for the most part is well told but I could never shake the fact that if they just didn't shoot their load in some scenes by trying to over-dramatize things in order to foster a feel-good moment, it would be far more intriguing. This isn't the kind of movie that needed to end with jubilant music after a "we won" moment. If I had to describe the way that the story was handled, it would be... fine.

Most of the camera work serves the film very well and wasn't distracting, but there were some shots that were a bit jarring and seemed to be less of a story building tool and more of a "look what I can do" moment. If I were to describe the direction, it would be... fine.

The only part of the movie that rose beyond the realm of "fine" was Streep's performance, who was completely engrossing and believable in her role. She is a mid-20th century woman who never imagined being the head of a company, but after her husband passed away she feels obligatied to head the mantle of the company she loves. Already in over her head, she now has to deal with the impending IPO of her company and the potential company-ruining decision of publishing the Pentagon Papers against the obvious wishes of the Nixon White House. This is a woman who is in a constant state of stress and Streep wears it all on her sleeve. She was her typical brilliant here. Unfortunately one fantastic performance, especially one from someone we just expect fantastic performances from, isn't quite enough to lift the simply okay nature of the rest of the movie.

It was fine.

Story time, kids.

Some weeks ago, when I went to a screening of The Room that included an appearance from Tommy Wiseau himself, I got to the theater very early, because it was Freaking Tommy Freaking Wi Freaking Seau and I wanted to make sure I was first in line to meet him.

However, when I got there, there was already a massive line. I figured it could only be for one thing, the aforementioned Freaking Tommy Freaking Wi Freaking Seau so I just got in the line. It wasn't for another 20 minutes of standing in this massive line that I realized it was for another film, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri.

I was dumbfounded. Freaking Tommy Freaking Wi Freaking Seau was about to be in the building and meanwhile there was this massive line for a movie I never heard of. Needless to say it was on my radar since then. And I'm glad my memory didn't fail me for once because this is a heck of a film.

The wonderful thing about this film is that it's so not what you think it is from the description alone. One would assume this will be a standard story about a powerless individual going against the big bad police force. A clear story about the good guy versus the bad guy.

Instead, this movie has no good guys. This movie has no bad guys. This movie has people. People that all think they're doing the right thing; people with clear motivations and radical ideas on how to accomplish them, sometimes oblivious to the big picture ramifications.

Frances McDormand plays one of these people, Mildred. Having had a daughter who passed away in terrible fashion, she is singularly focused on having her local police force get off what she perceives to be their lazy asses and figure out who did the terrible deed.

Contrary to a more stereotypical movie dealing with this subject matter however, the cops aren't flat out evil here. There are cops that are genuinely trying to have the case solved, but simply can't due to a lack of leads. Frances' singular devotion to calling out the police in fact, has very human impact on good men that may not deserve the public humiliation she's offering. However as a woman that has lived through the hells of an abusive spouse and a slain child, she isn't seeing this side of the coin.

It was a breath of fresh air that in this current political climate where they easily could have reached for the low hanging fruit and portrayed the police as singularly abusive and cruel, they didn't do that. Everyone here is a human. A flawed human, because all humans are flawed. There are for sure police that act in an abusive manner, but there are citizens that commit atrocious acts of violence here too. Some of the cops are racist or homophobic, some aren't. And same with the non-police characters.

McDormand is magnificent here. She has an exterior as rough and solid as a cinder block. She is hyper focused, ballsy and doesn't accept anything less than what she wants. It's this attitude that moves the plot and supplies some decent comedy. It's also this attitude that makes her brief moments of vulnerability more unsettling. Her devotion to her ultimate goal of justice is admirable of course and the fierceness at which she fights for it is enjoyable, but the impact of her actions on those around her often gets lost to her. She never stops being sympathetic, but any notions of her being 100% in the right are dispelled before long.

Equally maginificent, perhaps even moreso is Woody Harrelson, who only took a few months to surpass his amazing turn in War For The Planet of The Apes to deliver another belter. His character, Willoughby, is a decent man. He's well spoken, polite, kind, cares about public service and loves his family. Unfortunately, he is also the chief of police and therefore the greatest single object of Mildred's venom. Watching him trying to do the best for everyone and stay positive while being torn apart not only from the public assassination of his character, but also from a significant personal problem, is a believable and sympathetic story in it's own right.

Having these two people, both with respectable opinions and motivations, clashing with each other is a brilliant catalyst and elevates this film beyond this same plot done with less care. Instead of having a definitive hero, you are left torn throughout the hour and 55 minute runtime, simultaneously rooting for everyone and no one.

The single greatest character growth comes not from either of the aforementioned characters however and instead comes from Sam Rockwell's character, Dixon. At the beginning of the film he is Willoughby's simple minded, temperamental, and slavishly devoted underling. At the end of the movie he grows into a much more focused and understandable person, and this transition from someone you can't imagine loving to the opposite is often entertaining, but far more often, crushing. Rockwell is on my list now as another actor to be reckoned with.

The film's only imperfections come in some of the dialogue. There are a couple (only a couple) times where the dialogue comes off as forced. There's the famous "deer" scene and while not the abomination some portray it to be, it definitely comes off as more hokey than sincere. Then there's a scene toward the end of the movie where a person visits her at her place of work that did not make a whole lot of logical sense. These moments are extremely minor and don't preclude the film from being an excellent tale told well.

I've been having good luck with movies lately, and this was no exception. This film has laughs, it has tears and it has real emotion. I was enthralled near every second. There is no obvious hero, and no happy ending. Instead you have real humans going through a series of crushing moments, with all the believable actions and reactions that occur as a result. In less capable hands it could have been a preachy and by the numbers tale we see with the boringly romanticized nature of most "based on a true story" projects. Instead, this entirely fictional work is more real than most of them and I have to respect that.

Oh and Tyrion Lannister and Mac's mom from Always Sunny are in the movie. If that doesn't sell you, go back to your home planet.

I'd like to make one point on this right off the back: I usually try to take it easy on critics when there's a discrepancy between them and the public view of a film, but they are legitimately hard to trust on this one. Mainly, because many take themselves far too seriously and can't get over that one of the main sources of conflict is from a stuck up theater critic. What's rich is how little self awareness they have, as when they complain to no end about a critic acting like a miserable snob in a movie, they're pretty much proving the movie right.

Critics who immediately find the need to dislike a movie based on whether or not it has a snobby critic character, I implore you: take a look in the mirror and learn how to laugh at what you see. You'll find yourself much happier with your life.

The only other complaint I see about the movie is that it's not historically accurate. Which... I mean... if you have a problem that the movie where everyone breaks into a musical number whenever they're feeling an emotion might not tell the exact story of what went down 100% accurately, I weep for your family.

Now, the movie: it's great. Really great. In fact it's one of the most enjoyable experiences I've had in a movie theater in a long time. I can't remember the last time I walked into a theater and was out in a brisk hour and 45 minutes, but I wish it was the case more often.

In just that amount of time, the movie had everything: it had enjoyable and relatable characters, solid comedy, drama, conflict, development and yeah musical numbers that holy crap, were actually good and enhanced the production more than it hurt it. I had a smile on my face when I was meant to, I felt tension was I was meant to and I was fully invested in every moment, even as someone that isn't typically fond of musicals.

The film is lead by the typically brilliant Hugh Jackman, who you originally think will annoyingly enter the realm of an ultra-romanticized saint of a human being only for the film to turn around and show moments of weakness. You begin to see his obsessive devotion to becoming universally renowned, and the mistakes that he makes as a result. This may not be an accurate portrayal of the real human, but it is an unmistakably human story and Jackman delivers it perfectly.

Also effective in the film to my shock and awe is Zac Efron. Ever since my mom used played 17 Again on loop while I was living with my parents, I've deliberately avoided his films out of sheer contempt for my own Vietnam flashbacks. But damn, this guy is good. He can sing, he can dance and can sure as hell act. Respect.

I can continue to point out the actors who did a great job with their performances, but the truth is, they are all great. Go on imdb and place your finger on a random cast member. They were great in the movie. Guaranteed.

You would expect this movie to be primarily driven by Hugh Jackmans character, and that's only true to an extent. Ultimately this is a film about acceptance, no matter your race, gender or any other quality that makes you different. A bit obvious, sure, but it works in the musical genre. To that end though, as much as the film was carried by Hugh Jackman, it was equally carried by his band of colorful characters. Their mutual story of finding a purpose and acceptance through Barnum's circus is well told and well performed by each and every one of them. The bearded lady was especially a standout. Her musical number "This is Me" received an ovation after it was over. It's available on YouTube but the context of the movie is what really makes it a moving piece.

I didn't give the deserved ovation after the particular musical performance because I'm shy, but allow me to do my part and give it a standing ovation now. Wonderful film.