A Quiet Place Review

A Quiet Place is a fantastic example of a horror thriller done right. This movie is about a post apocalyptic world where a family must live in total silence to avoid being killed by sound sensitive monsters. John Krasinski does a great job playing the dad. Emily Blunt is also really good playing his wife. They make a believable couple and are fantastic at showing all the emotion required.  Noah Jupe and Millicent Simmonds are both fantastic as the brother and sister respectively. 80% of the dialogue in this movie is through sign language with rare moments of speaking. This movie heavily relies on visual storytelling. John Krasinski does a masterful job directing this movie squeezing out every single bit of tension possible. The visual effects on the monsters are fantastic and the design is unique and creative. At a short 90 minutes, this movie moves at just the right pace while never giving you time to relax. Overall A Quiet Place was a fantastic suspenseful movie that I highly recommend.

8/10

Blockers Review

Blockers was an absolutely hysterical comedy with characters I cared about. This movie is about three parents who attempt to stop their daughters from losing their virginity on prom night. John Cena gives a hilarious performance in this movie. He did an excellent job playing a realistic, but still fun dad. Leslie Mann, who sometimes annoys me gave a really funny performance. The standout of the parents is Ike Barinholtz, he stole every scene he was in. The three daughters played Kathryn Newton, Gideon Adlon and Geraldine Viswanathan were all great as well. The biggest surprise of this movie was how well developed the relationship between the parents and daughters were. I was emotionally invested in their stories. The script by Brian Kehoe and Jim Kehoe was laugh out loud hysterical from start to finish. The directing by Kay Cannon was perfectly serviceable for this kind of movie. Overall Blockers is a hilarious comedy that I highly recommend.

8.5/10

Midnight Sun Review

Midnight Sun is an emotionally compelling romance story. This movie is about a 17 year old girl named Katie who is allergic to sunlight. One night she meets her childhood crush and must struggle to balance romance and her disease. Bella Thorne gives a great performance as Katie. Patrick Schwarzenegger gives a really good performance as Charlie, Katie’s love interest. Rob Riggle and Quinn Shephard both gave solid performances as Katie’s dad and best friend, respectively. Eric Kirsten’s script did a great job developing the characters and making us care about them. Scott Speer’s directing is competent but nothing more. At 91 minutes the story moves along at a quick pace. As for flaws, the movie was occasionally a bit too cheesy for me. Overall Midnight Sun was a shockingly good romance film with great characters.

7.5/10                                          

Ready Player One Review

Ready Player One is a sci-fi masterpiece and one of my favorite films ever.  This movie is about a virtual reality known as the Oasis.  The creator has hidden an Easter Egg somewhere in the world.  Whoever finds the egg wins half a trillion dollars and total control of the Oasis itself.  Once the creator dies, the hunt for the egg begins. Tye Sheridan gives a great performace as Wade Watts A.KA. Parzival.  He is an extremely charismatic lead and plays all aspects of his character perfectly.  Even better is Olivia Cooke as Art3mis, her character is funny but also does the emotion extremely well.  She and Tye Sheridan make a fantastic leading duo.  Ben Mendelsohn gives a fantastic performance as our villain.  Simon Pegg and Hannah John-Kamen give really good performances in smaller roles.  Steven Spielberg does an incredible job directing every aspect of this movie.  Zak Penn and Ernest Cline do a great job writing the fast paced script.  The score by Alan Silvestri fits the movie perfectly bringing all the necessary excitement and emotion to the film.  Overall, I had a blast with Ready Player One and I recommend it to all movie fans.

10/10

Sherlock Gnomes Review

Sherlock Gnomes is passable entertainment for kids, but will likely bore adults.  This movie is about Gnomeo and Juliet who must recruit Sherlock Gnomes to solve the mystery of the disappearing gnomes.  James McAvoy and Emily Blunt do good voice work as Gnomeo and Juliet but their characters just are not interesting.  What makes this movie fun at all is Johnny Depp’s Sherlock Gnomes. His voice fits the character perfectly and his banter with Chiwetel Ejifor’s Watson is fun to watch.  The animation is competent but nothing special.  However, we do get a few uniquely animated sequences in Sherlock’s head that are inventive and fun to watch.  At 86 minutes this movie is great for young kids. While I did laugh some, there just is not enough humor for adults.  Overall I recommend Sherlock Gnomes to young kids only.

5/10