The Mountain Between Us Review

The Mountain Between Us is a bad movie that just got worse as the movie progressed.  This movie is about two strangers stranded by a plane crash who must forge a connection to survive the extreme elements of a remote snow-covered mountain.  Idris Elba and Kate Winslet try their best here and they do have good chemistry at first but it does not last very long.  The script here is total garbage filled with clichés and zero tension.  I cared more about the dog stranded with them than any human character in this movie.  The one standout aspect of this movie is the fantastic cinematography; it is truly stunning to see at times.  While the first half was bad, it was the second half that took a downward spiral.  At 1 hour and 52 minutes, the movie moved at an extremely slow pace that dragged on forever.  Overall The Mountain Between Us is a bad movie with very few redeeming qualities despite competent performances from its cast.

3/10

Happy Death Day Review

Happy Death Day is one of the most fun theater experiences I have ever had.  Seeing this movie in a packed theater opening night was a great experience and I would highly recommend trying to see this with a crowd.  This movie is about a college student who relives the day of her murder until she discovers her killer's identity.  First off, the opening 15 minutes of this movie while necessary to the story are really bad.  However, after our lead is killed the first time this movie picks up immensely.  Jessica Rothe gives a star-making performance here and is a huge part of why this movie works as well as it does.  While it might not be as predictable for everyone I guessed the killer very quickly, however it did not affect my enjoyment of the film.  The best way I can describe this movie is it’s a horror comedy.  There were as many moments that had me on edge and made me jump as there were moments that made me die laughing.  Overall Happy Death Day was so much better than I expected from the trailer and is a super fun albeit flawed theater experience.

7.5/10

The Foreigner Review

The Foreigner is a strange mix of two movies.  This movie is a Pierce Brosnan political thriller and a Jackie Chan revenge movie.  While both movies are enjoyable, mixed together it does not always work.  Jackie Chan is fantastic in this movie showing everyone that he can seriously act along with great action scenes.  Pierce Brosnan is great as well although he is doing a strange accent that takes some getting used to.  This movie is about a humble businessman (Chan) with a buried past seeks justice when his daughter is killed in an act of terrorism. A cat-and-mouse conflict ensues with a government official (Brosnan), whose past may hold clues to the killers' identities.  Martin Campbell (Casino Royale) does a good job directing here and does a great job directing the action scenes.  Thankfully there were no quick cuts or shaky cam so I was able to see everything going on during the fight sequences.  At 1 hour 54 minutes the movie is paced fairly well but is too long at times and could probably be shorter by around 10 minutes.  Overall if you are looking for a fun action thriller or are a Jackie Chan fan I would recommend this movie. 

6.5/10

Blade Runner 2049 Review

Blade Runner 2049 is a worthy sequel to the first film, however, I do not think it is the masterpiece everyone is claiming.  Director Denis Villeneuve does a perfect job recreating the world from the original film and directs this movie beautifully.  However, there are quite a few scenes that are dragged out much longer than necessary.  I cannot speak to the plot of this movie as it is impossible to describe without spoilers.  Ryan Goslling is great as Agent K and he brought multiple layers to his role.  Harrison Ford is still great reprising his role as Deckard from the original film.  While his role is not huge he is always a welcome presence.  Ana De Armas steals the entire movie for me.  I could not take my eyes off the screen anytime she was on screen.  Sylvia Hoeks is a good villain but I wish there was more to her character.  However, I hated Jared Letto in this movie, while he is only in two scenes I was taken out of the movie every time he was on screen.  The real standout here is Cinematographer Rodger Deakins who should finally win an Oscar for this film as its one of the most beautiful looking movies I have seen all year.  However, it is crucial that your theater projects the movie correctly.   I have seen this movie three times now and the first two times it was projected wrong making it impossible to see during some sequences and it really killed my enjoyment of movie first two times.  At 2 hours and 43 minutes the movie moves at a surprisingly fast pace, however, some scenes go on for way too long and hurt the pacing of the film.  Overall Blade Runner 2049 is a great movie and a great sequel but it is crucial that you see this movie projected correctly, otherwise you will not be able to enjoy it.

9/10

Battle of the Sexes Review

Battle of the Sexes is a well-made, compelling film telling the true story of the 1973 tennis match between World number one Billie Jean King and ex-champ and serial hustler Bobby Riggs.  Emma Stone is mostly great here and Steve Carell gives his best performance, stealing the entire film.  Sara Silverman who I’m not normally a fan of I found really entertaining here.  However, Andrea Riseborough whose work I’ve enjoyed in the past is straight up awful in this movie.  She plays the lover of Stone’s character and their relationship 100% falls flat.  I understand their relationship is a critical part of Stone’s story but it was so poorly written and acted during those scenes it kept taking me out of the movie.  The best aspect of this movie is by far the set and costume design.  It accurately displayed the 70’s more than any movie I’ve seen in a long time.  Another positive is this movie was much funnier than I ever would’ve expected with several moments that had me laughing quite hard.  Overall Battle of the Sexes is a really good movie that could’ve been great but is held back due to the poorly written relationship between Stone and Riseborough’s characters.

7.5/10

The Lego Ninjago Movie Review

The Lego Ninjago Movie is a total blast from start to finish. Maybe it was because I had lower expectations but I liked this as much as the other two Lego movies. From the minute this movie started I was howling with laughter. I couldn't believe how much I was laughing at this movie. While after 40ish minutes the laughter does slow down there's still plenty of big laughs to be had in second half of film. I thought this movie was perfectly paced. It was 90 minutes and I felt like I had been sitting there for 30 minutes.  All the voice acting was great and all the cast did a great job giving personality to their characters. Some of the standouts are Jackie Chan who was clearly having a blast with this role and Justin Theroux as the main antagonist of the movie. He stole the movie for me and was glad he was on screen for 85% of this movies running time. Just like the other Lego movies this movie is beautifully animated with its unique style. The story here while simple was also surprisingly compelling and had a really touching father-son relationship I was invested in. Other than the movie does occasionally go too long without a huge laugh, I really didn't have any issue with this movie. While other people might be getting tired of Lego movies if they're all going to be this great, keep them coming.

8.5/10

mother! Review

Um, What Did I Just Watch? Let me start off with this I recommend this movie to absolutely no one. This is a movie very few people will understand or enjoy. mother! is probably the weirdest movie I've ever seen in cinema. Darren Aronofsky (Noah) directs this movie perfectly and there's no denying this movie is beautiful to look at. However, he also wrote the script and that's where the issue lies with this movie. This movie does not have much of a story or if it does I completely missed it. This is a 2-hour Biblical metaphor with environmentalist messages thrown in as well. Also, this movie has one of the most messed up and insane third acts I've ever seen in cinematic history. It's been three days since I've seen this movie and I'm still trying to figure out some of the imagery in this movie. Jennifer Lawrence and Javier Bardem are both fantastic in this movie. Lawrence especially carries a lot of this movie by herself. All the other performances are great as well with tons of actors I didn't know were in this movie. While I certainly didn't love mother! I love movies that are willing to be weird and take risks and this movie certainly delivered that. For that reason alone I'm glad this movie exists even though it's not a movie I can recommend to anyone.  

6.5/10