the founder

There's an extended segment around the first third of the movie, that chronicles how the McDonald brothers; Richard and Maurice, started the restaurant chain. It was an engrossing and inspirational tale, that honestly made me immediately go "wow, I think I'm definitely going to go to McDonald's right after the movie." Well, let's say that by the end of the movie, I wasn't in that much of a hurry to go to that fast food chain anymore. If you are already familiar with the history of the corporation then you know why. Ray Kroc. 

Just as much as this is the story of McDonald's history, it is really more about Ray Kroc. He started off as being the best thing that could have happened to the McDonald brothers, with his know-how, determination, persistence, and ambition, to properly franchise the restaurant. What happens then is a fascinating tale about one man's thirst for success and power, that lead the way to the behemoth that is the McDonald's of today. Micheal Keaton is amazing as Kroc. He plays the role in a way where you can equally admire the guy and despise him. The back and forth between Keaton, Nick Offerman, and John Carroll Lynch, are also one of the highlights of this movie, and the rest of the supporting cast are good in this too. 

As a historical biopic, the movie was really smart in picking and choosing which parts of the story needs to be focused more, while some are either not talked about or are just simple plot points to enhance the main film's premise that is Ray Kroc. The narrative was very accessible, and I really appreciated that. 

lovedit  ENJOYED IT  itsokayitsmehitsterrible

20th century women

What I found to be incredible about this movie is that for a story that goes in many different directions, juggling multiple characters that had the depth to justify their own movies, tackling several deep life related subject matters, is a nice snippet of a look at life in 1979 Santa Barbara California, and even celebrates the punk rock music scene, is that Director-Writer Mike Mills was able to put all of that into a fairly accessible and captivating narrative. 

The premise features three females in three different age groups, a teenage boy, and an adult man, that have stories and experiences that should encourage the audience to have a discussion about who we should be and what we should do in this modern world. The narrative is all told in a somewhat stream of consciousness style of showing us scene after scene after scene, that are like slice of life moments, from philosophical discussions, punk rock music, history, montage sequences, monologues, and traditional interpersonal drama. 

What a fantastic cast this movie has. Annette Benning and her clever life observations. Elle Fanning and the confidence of her character. Greta Gerwig and her outgoing personality. Lucas Jade Zumann as the kid in the coming of age story. Billy Crudup as the man's man who just wants stability in life. All of them are excellent in this, and I just wanted to follow all their characters' lives, way past the end credits. 

LOVED IT  enjoyedititsokayitsmehitsterrible

split

NO SPOILERS HERE!!! I felt the need to emphasize that fact, because as with M.Night Shyamalan movies, they have a tendency to be defined by the last plot points of the story. Without mentioning any kinds of reveals, depending on your opinions, the ending plot points will make you either go "you've got to be kidding me" in either a negative light, or a positive one. I myself thought it was a rewarding ending, but results may vary. 

For a psychological thriller about three girls who are held captive by someone who appears to have a multiple personality disorder, it's actually a pretty solid movie. Sure, there will be those who might feel that this is an inappropriate representation for those with that kind of a disorder, but I don't think that was the intention of the filmmakers. Sure, there will be those who might find the movie boring for it's deliberately slow pacing, but I thought it was successfully just taking it's time to build up the tension to the eventual conclusion; without the need to overplay jump scares too. 

Patience and many leap of faiths are definitely needed to fully enjoy this movie, although I think it moved things along well enough, by giving us compelling scenes of the girls trying to escape, and the scenes of them interacting with their captor. The movie also has a welcome sense of self-awareness, and isn't afraid to toss in some levity here and there to balance out the suspense; like McAvoy acting like he is 9 years old.

Speaking of acting, kudos to Anya Taylor-Joy for her excellent role as Casey, and James McAvoy is fascinating to watch playing multiple roles in the movie. McAvoy may not be as good as Tatiana Maslany is in "Orphan Black," but he is still pretty effective in acting differently enough to define the various personalities. These two actors alone made it worth it to watch this movie, even if you were already spoiled about the ending. 

lovedit  ENJOYED IT  itsokayitsmehitsterrible

live by night

Here I thought that this was going to just be a rather straight forward but entertaining gangster drama set in the prohibition era. To my surprise, it goes to ambitious heights of also tackling strong subject matters such as racism and religion, among many others. What a mistake that was. I get that those plot points where also in the novel by Dennis Lehane that this film is an adaptation of, but it turns out that there are way too many stories here that's trying to cram itself into a two hours movie format.

Despite some of the positive things I could say about it, like the high production values, the gorgeous cinematography, the locations, the action set pieces, some legitimately great scenes that can be found here and there, Chris Messina as Dion Bartolo, Elle Fanning as Loretta Figgis, generally all the talent on screen, despite all that I unfortunately have to say that the overall narrative itself holds this back from being a good film. I'll go ahead and toss this argument in here, but the whole story probably would have played better as a TV series.

I suppose I should place the blame on Director, Actor, Screen-writer Ben Affleck for not being able to pull this off, but there's something else that I need to blame more. The lead character that he plays, Joe Coughlin. What an insufferable and uninspired character. His tragic criminal turned gang leader with a heart of gold, is like the embodiment of a humble-brag, and the perfect trigger to make people roll their eyes. Just like the overall movie, there's clearly am ambitiousness to make Coughlin be this anti-hero for the masses, but all it did was make me like the whole film even less. 

loveditenjoyedititsokay  IT'S MEH  itsterrible

paterson

Directed and Written by Jim Jarmusch, this movie's tone and atmosphere has a very meditative and poetic feel to it, which should tell you that this isn't something for everybody. While some are going to really love the introspective nature of the narrative, there will be many who would find this super boring and pretentious. I suppose I fall somewhere in between that, because there are moments in the movie that really put me in an incredibly relaxed mood that I could have fallen asleep right there and then. It's slow pacing seems to invite people to wander off and get distracted, but something seemingly innocuous will happen on screen and will just grab back your attention. 

The premise is about an aspiring poet named Paterson; played wonderfully by Adam Driver, who happens to be a bus driver in the city of Paterson, and this movie chronicles a week's look into his everyday life. I appreciated the fact that like with most people, it focuses a lot on how routine and mundane Paterson goes through his days. The repetitiveness will turn some people off, and the major highlights are simply Paterson starting his day with the girlfriend he lives with, interacting with other regular people he meets, eavesdropping on other people's conversations, writing up poetry, and ending the day in a bar that he regular visits. 

There's a lot about this movie that I appreciated and what it's trying to convey. It's almost like a love letter to the different everyday people who are trying to just stand out and pursue who they want to be, as well as a cheerleader to the city of Paterson New Jersey and the people who resides in it. 

lovedit  ENJOYED IT  itsokayitsmehitsterrible

patriots day

As a historical recreation of the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing, I thought Director Peter Berg did a terrific job adapting that event into a movie. Part of what really worked was that he was able to effectively juggle the huge ensemble cast of characters into the narrative, from the people of law enforcement, the victims of the bombing, and those responsible for the attack. When things happen to those characters, you have enough context to care about who they are, which really adds to the weight of the story.

The main focus of the movie is mostly about what immediately happened after the terrorist act. We're shown the huge procedural work and the hunt for those terrorists, as well as what those bombers did next. Everything there were very engaging, and no disrespect to the fact this actually happened in real life, but the whole thing played really well as a gripping tense thriller, that included some incredible plot turns, chases, gun fights, and explosions. Thematically, this is about the resolve of a city and it's people, to fight back against those who have hurt them, and to still be able to find hope and love at the end of a great tragedy. 

If there is one primary complaint about the movie, it's Mark Wahlberg's all-purpose fictionalized character of Sargent Tommy Saunders. It's one thing that his character just so happens to conveniently and coincidentally be everywhere the story needs to go, but he even has several monologues that were so heavy handed in reminding us what the thematic point of the movie is. Most everything about his character was just so eye rolling worthy. Despite that issue though, "Patriots Day" is still quite the movie experience, and it was hard not to feel completely transfixed to what was being shown on screen. 

lovedit  ENJOYED IT  itsokayitsmehitsterrible

silence

I'd like to preface this review by stating that I saw this film through the eyes of a believer in God. With that said, this is arguably one of the more challenging films I've ever seen about Christianity.

Set in 17th Century Japan, during a time when people are killed for being Christians, this story shows the lengths on how far people would go to stop the spread of Christianity, and how far people would go to practice Christianity even if in secret. While the argument about whether the Japanese people of that era should believe in the Christian God or not are put in the forefront here, the answer the movie gives us is deceivingly more complicated than it may superficially seem. It definitely opens things up for interpretation, but being that Director Martin Scorsese is a Catholic, there is still a little bit of bias shown here in favor of being a believer. 

Visually the film is spectacular to look at, with many gorgeous settings to admire. The minimalist musical score works really well too, especially considering the name of the movie. As for the story itself, it's historically epic, and quite the experience to go through. The premise seems simple and straightforward enough, but it gets more and more complicated as it progresses. The feeling of oppression and persecution, to the struggle of keeping the faith, are just some of the primary themes shown to us. There's also a lot of plot points that will likely get a strong emotional reaction, and some scenes will even play out differently among different people because of the subject matter. 

At the primary center of this story is the Christian Missionary Father Rodrigues; played by Andrew Garfield. He is our surrogate character that we are suppose to experience this journey with, and I would go so far to say that Scorsese himself is reflecting on his own faith through Rodrigues. Wow what an incredible acting performance by Andrew Garfield here, in a very emotionally powerful role. Along with Garfield, the supporting cast are also terrific in this, from Adam Driver, Yosuke Kubozuka, Issei Ogata, and Liam Neeson. Keep in mind that the main point of view of the narration is through Father Rodrigues' eyes, so you won't have the luxury of getting many alternative plot perspectives from the rest of the huge Japanese cast of characters.

As an adaptation of the 1966 novel of the same name by Shusaku Endo, and arguably also a remake of the 1971 Japanese film adaptation, Martin Scorsese went all out here to create one of the best work he has ever done in his life. It truly feels like a personal passion project, with a deliberate vision, and definitely the work of a master film maker. I should mention that this film does have a run time of 2 hours and 41 minutes, so it'll really ask a lot from an audience that might just find the whole thing slow and boring. Personally, it kept my immediate attention all the way through, and I wouldn't have minded if it was even longer. 

LOVED IT  enjoyedititsokayitsmehitsterrible

hidden figures

Considering when this based-on-a-true-story movie is set in, and the leading characters are African American women, there is a huge emphasis on the subject of racism and sexism that is shown in this film. It also seemed like there were scenes that the movie took some liberties with, to create some solid dramatic moments to hook the audience; there are some comedic ones too. You know what? It worked. It worked really well.  

This is undeniably a crowd pleasing story about underdogs beating the odds to make history by their achievements. Sure the plot progression of the movie moves along as expected, there isn't any real true stand out surprises, and there aren't any fancy visuals. In a film making point of view, it's all just fine. However, did I mention how it just works, and is such a crowd pleaser?

Directing and writing aside, this movie probably wouldn't have worked if it wasn't for the fantastic leading actresses, Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer, and Janelle Monae, playing the inspiring real life characters that are Katherine G. Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan, and Mary Jackson, respectfully. These are real people that everybody needs to know about, and this movie giving them more exposure is only a good thing. It's also a good thing that this movie is actually pretty good too. 

lovedit  ENJOYED IT  itsokayitsmehitsterrible

bright lights : starring carrie fisher and debbie reynolds

If you didn't already know who Debbie Reynolds and Carrie Fisher were, then this is one of the best documentaries about them. Along with son/brother Todd Fisher, this is a very enjoyable look at this family that's constantly surrounded by the bright lights of Hollywood. As a documentary, it does chronicle their history as a famous family, their career in the entertainment industry, and how they deal with it in their own ways. However, this film is really more about who they are as people, and how amazing their mother and daughter relationship is. 

Debbie Reynolds is just an absolute joy of energy that is always ready to entertain, and Carrie Fisher is an incredibly out spoken woman with a fantastic sense of humor. Seeing the two of them interact with each other, and how they are ideally best friends as a Mother and Daughter, as well as huge fans of each other, is so very inspiring. Just watching this film, you would have wanted to know this duo personally, and not necessarily because of their stardom, but because of who they are as people. 

The both of them lived through a lot in their lifetime, and this documentary does not shy away from pointing out their low points, to contrast the high points. In several scenes, Debbie and Carrie share things that are quite intimate and personal, whether it be a shocking revelation, or a humorous one. That's what this documentary shows us, seemingly innocuous moments that bring the two to life, to go along with the big glitz and glamour that's required of them as part of the entertainment industry. 

From beginning until end, this documentary thoroughly entertained me. Which is fitting, because since the very beginning of their lives in the entertainment industry, Debbie Reynolds and Carrie Fisher will forever entertain us for the work they have done, and for who they are as people. 

lovedit  ENJOYED IT  itsokayitsmehitsterrible

a monster calls

This movie is a little bit relentless in letting us know how 12 year old Connor O'Malley is in such a sad state of affairs in life. One can even say that it's too aggressive in getting that point across to us. The tone of the film can be overly dour and melodramatic, with very few scenes of levity, that it just might be a turn-off for some viewers to put up with. The animated sequences at least provide a nice change of pace to the narrative, and the talking tree that is the monster is generally very entertaining. Speaking of animation and a talking tree, this movie is undeniably visually impressive to watch as well. 

If there is a primary purpose to see this movie, it is for the thematic message that it is conveying to us. Although I think the important lesson it is giving is targeted more for young adults around the lead character's age who are going through similar struggles, there are some insights that an adult could also appreciate. As lessons go though, this one is deep in sadness, despair, and frustration, which are feelings that the movie audience themselves might also go through with the story as it moves along.

I'll have to admit though, that for a story that feels like it's trying really hard to make me very emotional with all the sadness it's showcasing from scene to scene, I felt oddly detached for most of the movie. I say "most" of the movie, because the last 20 minutes contains scenes that are emotional powerhouses done brilliantly, that it dares you to not feel anything for the characters. Those final acts are a fantastic grand reward for seeing through the movie. It helped that it also has a solid cast of actors from Sigourney Weaver, Liam Neeson as the monster, Lewis MacDougall who excellently carries most of the movie as Conor, and a very strong performance by Felicity Jones who I feel steals every scene as his Mother. 

lovedit  ENJOYED IT  itsokayitsmehitsterrible