Elizabeth Shue is still a fox. Even in Battle Of The Sexes.

Truth!

Hereditary

9/10

Jesus fuck, that ones gonna stay with me after a while.

Ocean's 8-7/10

Good cast that has great chemistry together. I'm forever in love with Anne Hathaway. The plot was good enough and the heist itself was good and fun to watch. Subplot and payoff were a little meh but I enjoyed it nonetheless.

Ocean's 8 - 6/10

A lot of fun.

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom - I guess 6/7 out of 10. Dinos do Dino things.

Ocean's 8 - 3.5/5

I liked it. The cast worked out great. Surprise cameos were awesome. Just needed a little more work on a few things.

I'm down for another if it happens.

"Suburbicon" - 3/4

This was a lot more enjoyable than reviews would admit. I think people have a problem with the unnecessary racial sub-plot but I get it man. It's a film about white entitlement, guilt, shame and the bad decisions that go along with it.
I enjoyed Julianne Moore and I thought the kid was pretty good too but Matt Damon really should play more neurotic heel characters. He played a dark hearted, amoral, fidgety snake in the grass as well if not better than he did in The Talented Mr Ripley. A few good bad-guy roles could see him land a proper Oscar someday.

Downsizing - 1/4

You know you're in real trouble when a film goes to "comedy Asian accent" territory but keeps everyone in a straight face just long enough to legitimise it for morons.

This film lived up to the very bad hype. Avoid because it eats up over two hours with pseudo politics and a horrendous waste of Kirsten Wiig and the comedy her bald presence guarantees.

This was a real eye opener. Thank God Nebraska, Sideways, The Descendants and About Schmidt are all masterpieces because this one reminds us that even the masters have their great failures.

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom-6/10

It's enjoyable for what it is, but the set pieces feel old and far too familiar. The cloning plot is back and they double down on it.

The ending leaves it open to really expand the universe, in a way they really haven't to this point. But to echo Dr Malcolm, just because they can, doesn't mean they should.

Ben Hur (1959) 5/10 Visually it was amazing. No CGI Greenscreen bullshit back then and looked amazing in scenes. Was very slow paces, not much going on in scenes. Heston had no range. The infamous race was impressive as fuck. Happy I watched it, but never want to see it again.

Blocker - Surprisingly a funny movie even though some bits are heavily far fetched. I enjoyed cena and his muscular but. Pamela Adon's daughter is a stone cold fox. Would do. 6.4/10

"TAKE IT BACK, BRAD! TAKE BACK WHAT YOU SAID ABOUT THOR!!!"

Won't You Be My Neighbor - 8.5 / 10

Really good documentary about Mr. Rogers and pretty uplifting. Lots of Daniel Tiger appearances is a plus!

Been meaning to catch it but it's not playing anywhere close to me. Might cry

Annihilation-8/10

From the same you who made Ex Machina. Thought this was a step down, but still very good and very compelling. The cast is great, and Portman as the lead was stellar. Loved the tone and the pacing. The ending was both wondrous and unnerving. Highly recommend.

Deadpool 2 - 4/5. Not as good as the first, but fun none the less. Some of the cameos were great too.

The Endless -- 8.5 / 10

Good film. It's about two brothers who return to the Doomsday Cult they were raised in...only to discover the cult might have been right the entire time.

Southland Tales - 3.5/4

One of the sporadic offerings from the director of Donnie Darko, and a better film in my opinion. This is a film for a contemplative mood, a film to make you wonder about genre and style. The director uses actors known for playing outlandish characters or for giving over the top performances in lowest common denominator comedies and other genre films and he interweaves musical performances and choreography to give the film a sort of musical American-Manga feel.

This is deceptive and appears incredibly low brow at first glance. A bit shiny and plastic, like the box is worth more than the toy until you open it up and feel the weight and see the quality.. The actors and the style would be hugely off putting to many critics/students/connoisseurs of film and it possibly put people in a state of unease which I think has coloured the reviews with accusations of tackiness, poor direction and a confusing plot.
I feel that way about Donnie Darko and conversely I enjoyed Southland Tales a great deal and feel it is a far more worthy and sincere film than the disingenuous and pretentious, Donnie Darko.

I see similarities with Japanese cinema and comics in this flick. I think it may be a bit of an homage.

I wonder if I should include plot spoilers in my reviews. I say a lot without really describing the story at all in basically every review I do.

Why do you think Donnie Darko was pretentious and disingenuous?

It's one of those films that has everything going for it but the story. It's the Emperor's New Clothes to sell a story with so little to it off the back of others desire to feel smart or cool.

I could be wrong, I find myself occasionally rewatching a once hated film and finding more merit in it the second time around. I was an alcoholic for a long time so I essentially have to re-evaluate my tastes a lot these days. I gave away my copy of Darko but I'll rewatch it the next time it's on TV.

I felt the same about Neon Demon but I have rewatched it and it's not that bad. Maybe 1.5/4 and it is beautifully shot and directed but with a flimsy story. I would love to see a Blu Ray of it.

Boyhood - 3/4

Watching this years after the hype had died down gave me a chance to see this for what it was - a brilliantly achieved experiment in film making with some excellent observations and insights into human interactions that Richard Linklater has made his signature. The time spent, the dedication to the project and overcoming or avoiding the obstacles that a production period of 15 years must have presented is an achievement so singularly impressive and unlikely to be repeated in fiction that it has to be respected and admired. The only comparable thing I can think of is the far longer running "7 and Up" documentary series by Michael Apted now running into it's 60-something year.

With all of that said I found the plot itself to be extremely bleak in parts and far too middle of the road in others to balance the tone. Not a particularly happy film nor did I think Patricia Arquette deserved an Oscar for it. No actor in the film was particularly impressive but I did like the two children that grow up in front of you, that was beautiful and the main reason people were so overwhelmed by it.

Dazed And Confused is still his magnum opus, followed immediately by A Scanner Darkly.

Natural Born Killers - 1/4

Oliver Stone is a mediocre director who has skated by with a generously high reputation built on bad films that make money. Somehow he seems to be a good screenwriter. Platoon is a great film but perhaps his direction was more a product of his involvement in the war and his brilliance as a writer than his aptitude as a director.

Now that I've said all of that, Natural Born Killers is a Badlands rip off with acid western direction and a real waste of talent in the few roles the film has.
It looks like Hunter S Thompson directed Bonnie And Clyde...but Hunter S Thompson was a loudmouth junkie loser so I'm not sure why anybody would want to see through his eyes.

As an indictment of the behaviour exhibited in the film by the protagonists it fails on every level as it makes no attempt to demonise their behaviour, simply explaining away their crimes by way of the film's title and some bad taste vignettes of their early home lives.
Everybody is a bastard but the kindly native Americans, nobody is righteously punished despite the brutal and complete annihilation of the majority of the cast.

This is a film that is feeble under even the slightest scrutiny and despite Stone's insistence on it as a morality story that doesn't glorify violence it is basically murder porn for 90's weirdo's.

I think everything has it's place and this was just bad enough that I'd say it belongs next to Maniac Cop or Henry: Portrait Of A Serial Killer in terms of worth. I don't resent these movies, I just have no desire to see them again now that I'm no longer bound by the youth enticing mystique of Adult rated movies.

I have to say that this was particularly bad, even in a week that included Downsizing.

Martha Marcy May Marlene - 4/4

John Hawkes and Elizabeth Olsen are as talented as anybody working in acting today. I have a real tendency towards them as actors and a real and engrained distaste for films that are hopelessly grim, unsettling or depressing.
Martha Marcy May Marlene is a story about emancipation, indoctrination, abuse, escape and re-assimilation. It is dark, ugly and up close but it's an honest film with good intentions, wonderful performances and a uniquely accepting tone which might sound odd but in review it is easy to see how a more judgemental take could have spoiled the lasting impact.

This is a film that could easily be turned into a play. Each scene is made for a stage really, you are exposed to a lot of conversations, explanations and proclamations from John Hawkes.
Two great performances hold together a pretty impressive piece of work. The ending stayed with me.

I know who was in the car at the end.

I dunno, I liked Donnie Darko alot. I see your point about it being a bit pretentious but I thought it was cool. The bunny is pretty iconic nowadays.

You could include a few plot spoiler filled comments in a spoiler tag below yur review if you wanted to.....

I'll see what I think when I get another chance at it but I remember really hating it.

When I was drinking I ways convinced Casey Affleck was bullshit. I thought The Assassination Of Jesse James was the worst western I had ever seen. It wasn't until 2016 or so that I rewatched it sober and realised I had been hating the things that made it a masterpiece.

I don't hold up much hope for anything so I may be surprised. I fucking hate Jena Malone though so maybe not.

I think I will if it feels necessary at the time. I am against spoiling things for others and spoiler tags can fail miserably if somebody screws up a quote so I may just give oblique references to the general plot.

You're an alcoholic for the rest of your life! You're sober, but you're still an alcoholic!

Don't you remember all that bullshit they say in therapy?

It's the tits.

Moviepass #70 Jurassic World 2 - 5/10 they couldnt be bothered to put some effort into the sequel i cant be bothered to put effort into a review

That's pretty much a perfect burn for a bad film.

I'm watching the Shape Of Water. The first 15 minutes are not encouraging. This is one of those films I'm liable to throw in the bin.
I know that this is an homage and good natured rib on old style horror and the steam punk fantasy but come off it. This is like modern art, the joke costs too damned much to be worth the punchline.

To use some antiquated language: So far it's about a masturbating mute with obvious and revolting mental retardation, Richard Jenkins plays a neurotic old queen and Michael Shannon hasn't turned up to save me from killing myself yet.
Octavia Spencer is still sassy and black, Wanda Sykes must have lost the coin flip.

This is why I've owned a copy of Amelie for over a decade and have never even popped it in the disc drive.

Michael Shannon pulled this whole film up a notch just by walking into a bathroom, giving a little pointer on piss and walking out chewing gum.

A man who had his fingers bitten off and reattached would not be bending them a day or so afterwards. Not today. Not in the 60's.

Everything in this is designed to inflate and inflame my prejudices.
Stop getting whimsy wrong. It's not whimsical, it's weird.

Now there's Nick Searcy playing a murderous military oaf keen for vivisection.
I feel like this is trying to be to horror as Airplane! was to comedy or Warrior was to martial arts movies. It's choc full of tropes but I don't like any of them. They just make me confused for the hype.

This is like every film Maila Nurmi ever made fun of.

Rod Serling was coining these quasi-profound truly maudlin tropes back when he was busy writing, creating and overseeing the Twilight Zone... and that was half a decade before the time in which this film is set.

Michael Stuhlbarg is the best thing about this but to be fair the acting is all on point. Nobody is outright bad besides the lead and that is clearly an issue of fucking terrible writing and direction.

I am tired of pretty films that have nothing new to say. I'm appalled that this film won Best Picture. I may actually keep this as a reminder never to go full price on a film I'm unsure of ever again.