instant family

POSITIVES…
- An important part of what makes this movie work as well as it did, is the chemistry between Rose Byrne and Mark Wahlberg, as the couple who wants to be foster parents.
- Rose Byrne in particular has good comedic reactions to the different situations she faces.
- The other important part of what makes this movie entertaining, is to see how they interact with the three foster kids.
- Those foster kids are really good in their roles as well, from Julianna Gamiz as Lita, Gustavo Quiroz as Juan, and Isabela Moner as Lizzy.
- Isabela Moner continues to prove that she is one of the most promising young actresses right now.
- Great main cast, combined with a great supporting cast overall. With some highlights by Octavia Spencer, Tig Notaro, Margo Martindale, Iliza Shlesinger, and a few more others.
- The comedy bits are entertaining, and the drama bits are emotional. Enjoyable all around.
- Movie has a lot of heart, to the point where I truly appreciate how much of a feel good film it is.
- I admire that this movie is very forward about covering a lot of the pertinent aspects about fostering kids. Almost like it’s not bothering to hide the fact that this is blatantly advocating for people to consider adopting foster kids. I’m okay with that.
- This is exactly what you would expect from a movie about fostering kids. That’s not necessarily a bad thing.

NEGATIVES…
- This is exactly what you would expect from a movie about fostering kids. That might be a bad thing for some people.
- Some familiar plot tropes and cliches show up here as expected.

P.S….
- From Transformers: The Last Night, The Nut Job 2, Sicario: Day Of The Soldado, and soon Dora the Explorer, it seems Isabela Moner likes variety in her acting choices.

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a private war

POSITIVES…
- This goes out to all journalists and their drive to tell everyone what’s actually happening in the world.
- Dramatic. Emotional. Inspirational.
- Rosamund Pike’s intense acting as Marie Colvin is mesmerizing to watch. Amazing work!
- As a psychological character study of Colvin, this movie is spectacular.
- I appreciated it’s raw depiction of the devastating human tragedies in war torn lands.

NEGATIVES…
- Some might say that the movie hits us over the head a little too much with it’s themes.
- The movie can be accused of retreading one or two topics excessively throughout the narrative, to the point where it might feel too repetitive.
- Also might be too slow moving for some people.

P.S….
- Colvin’s broadcast from Homs, Syria. Plus tribue (YouTube)
- Telling legendary journalist Marie Colvin's story in 'A Private War' (YouTube)

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cam

POSITIVES…
- Madeline Brewer goes all out in her leading role here. Amazing.
- Creepy, unsettling, and intriguing, in all the right ways.
- Got my attention throughout the film, with it’s own fair share of plot turns that I wasn’t expecting.
- As a techno-horror-thriller, this movie brings up many topics that are absolutely worth discussing.
- Gives us a bit of insight into the world of cam girls, as this was co-written by a former cam girl.
- The ending is thematically pretty satisfying.

NEGATIVES…
- There will be people who won’t be happy with how the movie ends.
- At certain times of the story, I would like to think that the main protagonist should have figured out some other solutions to her problems. I had to suspend my disbelief in those cases.
- The whole topic might be too uncomfortable for some people to watch.

P.S….
- The scary thing is that the fantastical stuff in this movie, can probably actually happen in real life sometime in the near future.

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Watch It Now On Netflix

the front runner

POSITIVES…
- The whole cast is good in this, from Hugh Jackman, Vera Farmiga, Molly Ephraim, to J.K. Simmons, and many others.
- It’s an interesting historical event to revisit, especially when compared to the political climate of today.
- While the trailer might suggest a singular thematic message in this story, there are actually some other significant topics that this movie brings up, that are absolutely worth discussing.
- Gives us some insight into election campaigns and the people involved in it.

NEGATIVES…
- A huge chunk at the beginning of this movie covers a lot of that campaign jargon and going-ons, that were just boring to watch.
- Despite the good intentions and adept filmmaking, the movie just felt dull and unexciting.
- Just about all the best dramatic parts found in this movie are already showcased in the trailer.

P.S….
- Fun fact for fans of the TV show “Last Man Standing.” Molly Ephraim and Kaitlyn Dever are both in this movie. Since you won’t be seeing both of them on that TV show together anymore.

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the ballad of buster scruggs

POSITIVES…
- As an anthology film, with six short stories, this movie gives us a nice variety of tales about the western frontier.
- The first segment “The Ballad Of Buster Scruggs” is easily my favorite of all of them. It has a lot to do with Tim Blake Nelson’s performance of Scruggs, and the fun cleverness of how the story plays out itself.
- The second segment carries over that fun cleverness to the story, and gives us more of that black ironic comedy that I enjoyed from the first segment.
- The third to sixth segments all had some interesting things to offer to the movie, and continues to give us some great cinematography and that perfect tone that captures that era.
- This is a movie about storytelling, whether it’s tall tales, sad tales, or fascinating tales, and for that I give the Coen Brothers credit for their craft in film making.

NEGATIVES…
- As it also goes with anthology movies, not all segments are going to work with everybody.
- Besides the first two segments, the other four were kinda boring to me, with short spurts of the occasional cool thing that’s happening.
- The conclusions to each segment isn’t going to be completely satisfactory for some people either.
- I kinda wish Buster Scruggs had a whole movie for himself actually.

P.S….
- Is that Harry Potter’s Dudley Dursley in this movie?

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You Can Watch This Now On Netflix

beautiful boy

POSITIVES…
- Powerful performances by the whole cast, from Steve Carell, Timothee Chalamet, to Maura Tierney.
- Steve Carell is doing one of his best dramatic work as the concerned father David Sheff. It’s hard not to feel for the guy.
- Timothee Chalamet gets to check off the box “play drug addict.” At least he does a phenomenal job at it.
- Fantastic soundtrack.
- There were moments in this movie that felt so raw and effective.
- Considering the subject matter, watching this felt appropriately unpleasant and heartbreaking. I appreciated the fact that this movie doesn’t glamorize or romanticize drug addiction.

NEGATIVES…
- This movie was appropriately unpleasant and heartbreaking, which some people may simply not enjoy watching at all, despite the powerful message.
- Meanders at times.
- The bleak tone of the film doesn’t exactly scream “repeat viewing.”
- At one point in the movie, the title card says “one year earlier,” which then becomes meaningless because the narrative loves jumping back and forth in different times. Artistically it works to some degree, but I can see how it can annoying to watch it like this.

P.S….
- ssooo Michael Scott left Holly Flax to be with Susan California? whhaaatt?!
Kudos if you get that joke.

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ralph breaks the internet

POSITIVES…
- If you loved how clever it was on how they visualized what the video game world looks like from it’s own point of view, then you are going to love how they visualized what the internet world looks like from it’s own point of view.
- The voice cast are great as expected, from John C Reilly, Sarah Silverman, Taraji P Henson, Alan Tudyk, to Gal Gadot, and many more.
- Scenes involving the Disney Princesses were AWESOME.
- I already implied the visuals are great, but because of the premise, it’s also fun searching for all the easter eggs inside jokes that involves the internet.
- The after credits scene. Of Course.
- Entertaining. Exciting. Fascinating. Funny. Touching. Insightful. This movie really goes to many different places with it’s premise.
- Despite the seemingly simple story, there’s actually a lot of commentary underneath the many plot threads, a lot that involves elements involving the internet, among other things.

NEGATIVES…
- Despite the strong underlying themes and messages, I simply don’t think the story as it is, is as strong as it probably should be.
- Those looking forward to the returning characters from the first installment might be disappointed in how much time they were actually in the movie.
- There’s this thing in the movie that involves Ebay and about making money via the internet, that I found to be downright wrong and misleading.
- A lot of suspension of disbelief here.

P.S….
- There’s a sequence towards the end of the movie, where the antagonist of a particular action set piece, absolutely triggered a phobia for me just from how it looked visually. Just thinking about it makes my skin crawl.

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green book

POSITIVES…
- Viggo Mortensen is a lot of fun portraying Tony Lip, the tough guy from the streets with no manners.
- Mahershala Ali is great portraying Dr Shirley, the highly educated and skillful pianist.
- The oil and water chemistry between the two is very entertaining to watch, and is one of the core reasons to check this movie out.
- The last acts of this story are also really strong, and should fill you up with some good emotions by the time the end credits hit.
- There are also the historical looks, civic lessons, and prejudicial parallels to today’s time that justifies making this film.

NEGATIVES…
- As it goes with “these kinds” of films, there will be the expected plot tropes and cliches that go along with it. I say that but not ignoring the fact that this is inspired by the true events.

P.S….
- If there’s at least one reaction you will get from this movie, it’s that it will make you really hungry for some delicious food.

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creed II

POSITIVES…
- Michael B Jordan is as good as ever.
- Stallone is Stallone, and I guess we don’t ask for more than that.
- I really liked the story line specifically about Adonis and Bianca.
- I also really liked the plot thread between Ivan Drago and his son Viktor.
- The training montages are always enjoyable to watch.
- Boxing matches are explosive and good as well.
- The overall themes of this story are great, and the movie takes it’s time to let the characters breath and grow.

NEGATIVES…
- The movie takes it’s time, and some might say that it also moves a bit slower than expected.
- It’s a solid movie about boxing, but it honestly doesn’t really add anything new to the genre.
- This franchise still relies heavily on nostalgia and is still retreading what we’ve seen in the Rocky movies.
- Maybe the next installment will finally let Adonis Creed stand on his own for real.

P.S….
- There are a couple of cameo appearances that I didn’t know about, and were pleasantly surprised to see.

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robin hood 2018

POSITIVES…
- Taron Egerton continues to be as charming as ever.
- Jamie Foxx was also good in this.
- Ben Mendelsohn is awesome hamming it up as the villain.
- Action adventure sequences are enjoyable enough to watch.
- The overall modern style directing, visuals, and tone to what should be a straight period piece, did add a nice entertaining flavor to the whole movie.

NEGATIVES…
- The modern style feel of it all isn’t going to go well with some people.
- While the liberties taken to this classic story are welcome, it still doesn’t stray too far from expected plot developments that can make the movie feel derivative in some ways.
- Also expect some plot conveniences to happen to get the story moving in a predictable manner.
- Had potential to be better than what it is, but the movie is content to just be perfectly acceptable.

P.S….
- I know this movie wants to be a franchise, but let’s leave it alone as it is.

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